Friday the hottest SA August day on record at Oodnadatta — but Saturday to be hotter

An outback SA town has smashed its own record for the state’s hottest August day on Friday, but that is set to last for just one day — the forecast is for an even hotter day on Saturday.

Records tumbled as a winter heatwave swept across South Australia with the mercury hitting an astonishing 38.5C in Oodnadatta on Friday afternoon — a new state record — leaving locals “in shock” as they contemplated a hot August night with higher temperatures forecast.

The Bureau of Meteorology predicts Oodnadatta will hit an extraordinary 39C on Saturday and its maximum temperatures will stay above 30C for most of the rest of the month.

The state’s previous hottest August day also was recorded at Oodnadatta where the temperature reached 36.5 on August 12, 1946.

There may be a week of winter left but temperatures topped 30C in places across the Outback and the Eyre Peninsula, sending people in search of a cool break.

At Oodnadatta’s famous Pink Roadhouse, Kate Gunther said the place was very busy and the one topic of conversation was the weather.

The famous 'Pink Roadhouse' at Oodnadatta, outback South Australia. Picture: Bianca De Marchi

“It is a bit of a surprise for August,” she said. “We are all in shock here.

“It gets pretty hot here as summer arrives but to be breaking records in August is a bit much. “It’s also been windy.”

Ms Gunther wasn’t sure if it was a portent of a long hot summer ahead or if fate had decided just to give the roadhouse a hard time for a few days.

“But if this is any indication, it is going to be a scorcher of a summer,” she said.

Oodnadatta holds the record for the nation’s hottest temperature, reaching 50.7C (123.3F) on January 2, 1960, which was equalled at Onslow in WA on January 13, 2022.

An unseasonably hot air mass being drawn across Central Australia by a stream of north-westerly winds is being blamed for the hot spell.

A winter heatwave is sending temperatures soaring to new records in places like Oodnadatta. Picture: ECMWF

It saw temperatures on Friday hit 36.4C at Coober Pedy and Maree, 36C at Roxby Downs, 35.3C at Moomba, 34.8C at Tarcoola, 34.1C at Woomera, 32.9C at Ernabella, 32.9C at Leigh Creek, 32.5C at Port Augusta, 32.1C at Whyalla, 31.4C at Wudinna, 31C at Cultana and 30.5C at Ceduna.

At the William Creek Hotel, bar staffer Line Bisgaard said the hot weather as well as the landscape was vastly different to her native Denmark.

“It’s been 36C here and for August that is pretty hot,” she said. “Everyone is talking about it and the pub is very busy, everyone wants a cold drink.

“It’s also been windy — it is like a hair blow dryer.”