Aussies to swelter through hottest April in decades

Aussies are being warned against putting away their summer gear just yet, with parts of the country in for another blast of blistering heat.

Aussies in the country’s southeast are facing an unusually hot April, with forecast temperatures up to 10 degrees above seasonal averages.

Sky News predicts Melbourne will see its hottest April day since 2004 this weekend, with Adelaide to sweat through four straight days of temperatures above 30C from Saturday.

“It’s more typical of a summer weather pattern than mid-autumn,” Sky News meteorologist Alison Osborne said.

Temperatures are set to soar above April averages in Victoria and South Australia. Picture: NewsWire / Diego Fedele

“It’s not a heatwave strictly speaking, it’s just another unseasonal warm spell across southern Australia, from (Thursday) to next week.”

“It’s not what I would call untenable heat, but people would’ve already put their shorts away and now be thinking, ‘What the bloody hell’s going on?’.”

Parts of Australia’s southeast are expected to sweat through the hottest April weather seen in decades this weekend. Picture: Windy

Residents can expect maximums between 31C and 33C from Saturday through to Tuesday, with Melbourne likely to hit 30C on Sunday.

This hot streak falls right across the AFL Gather Round, in which all 18 teams play in South Australia.

All 18 AFL teams are playing in South Australia this weekend, as Adelaide is set to cop unseasonably hot Autumn weather. Picture: NewsWire / Nadir Kinani

A top of 33C would mean Adelaide’s hottest day this late in autumn since 2019, Ms Osborne said.

Temperatures are forecast to be up to 10 degrees hotter than the April average in Victoria and SA.

The heat means fire danger across SA, Victoria, and pockets of Tasmania.

The weather is being driven by a slow-moving high-pressure system travelling from the Great Australian Bight to the Tasman Sea, bringing hot and dry weather.

A weather system north of the Top End could form a tropical low, with a moderate chance of becoming a cyclone on Friday. However, current forecasts suggest the weather system is likely to remain north of the Northern Territory coastline.

Originally published as Aussies to swelter through hottest April in decades