Whether you’re at the SCG or the beach, Sydney is set for a cracking weekend of sunny weather, mostly avoiding the intense heat forecast for Victoria.
A low-intensity heatwave warning is in place for Sydney and much of NSW, with temperatures expected to build over the weekend and peak on Monday.
Following a maximum temperature of 29 degrees on Saturday, the Bureau of Meteorology forecasts temperatures in central Sydney will climb to 31 on Sunday, and again on Monday to 33.
The city’s west will be characteristically warmer, with a Monday peak of 39 degrees forecast for Penrith and Blacktown, said the weather bureau’s senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury.
“As usual, the western suburbs are looking much, much warmer, definitely looking at the high 30s, if not pushing 40 degrees for places like Penrith and Richmond on Monday,” she said.
A dry and sunny weekend and a hot start to the week on Monday is expected to make way for a forecasted thunderstorm later on Monday, bringing a cool and wet change.
“Thunderstorms … aren’t going to develop until Monday, when that cooler change comes through [and] brings up a bit of moisture, and that’s when we’ll see the showers extending from the south and pushing up the coast through into Tuesday as well,” Bradbury said.
“It could be a pretty wet day by the time we get to Tuesday and Wednesday.”
A severe heatwave warning has been issued on the NSW South Coast, though the region will experience highs only in the high 20s and low 30s.
“They’re not, by temperature, the hottest parts of the state,” Bradbury said, “because heatwaves don’t look necessarily at how high those maximum temperatures are, but more [at] how high above average they are and over a longer period of time.”
It is a different story in Victoria, where forecasts suggest it could be the hottest weekend in a decade with highs of 37 degrees on Saturday and 38 on Sunday.
A severe heatwave warning is in place for much of the state, with temperatures expected to reach 40 degrees along the Murray River and northern Victoria.
Most of the state is also covered by a high fire-danger rating this weekend. In the Wimmera region, the danger is considered extreme and a weeks-long Grampians bushfire continues to burn.
Victorian authorities have warned those cooling off in the water to take care after a young boy drowned while swimming in East Gippsland on Friday.
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