By Riley Walter
Sydney is set to swelter this weekend as summer stretches into autumn, with severe heatwave warnings in place for other parts of NSW.
The temperature in the city is forecast to reach 36 degrees on Sunday, climbing from a maximum of 31 on Friday and 32 on Saturday.
Elsewhere in NSW, a severe heatwave warning is in place across Friday for parts of the South Coast, including Nowra and Batemans Bay.
Heatwave conditions are expected to hit Parramatta and Richmond in Sydney’s west, as well as Batemans Bay, Bowral, Nowra and Wollongong, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
BoM senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said while the weekend’s forecast was eight to 10 degrees above Sydney’s average temperature for mid-March, the hot spell wasn’t unexpected.
“While that is considerably above average, across summer – and that pushes into early autumn, into March as well – we do get these bursts of heat coming through that bring the temperatures above average, and then a cold front moves through, and it drops the temperatures back below average,” Bradbury said.
A cold front with strong, blustery winds is forecast to sweep through Sydney late on Sunday or early Monday, with the temperature expected to drop to 25 degrees on Monday.
The cool change isn’t likely to meet the threshold for the famous southerly buster that sends temperatures plummeting in minutes, but it will bring “punchy” winds, Bradbury said.
“It’s still going to be a huge burst of southerly winds pushing through,” she said.
As a result, wind chills may mean the “feels like” temperature could be much lower than the actual temperature, she added.
A cool change on Sunday could bring with it winds resembling the famous southerly buster.Credit: Brook Mitchell
Strong winds are expected to continue throughout Monday and into Tuesday, before easing.
At the weekend Sydneysiders can expect “very warm” overnight conditions, with temperatures sitting above 20 degrees, Bradbury said. Overnight temperatures are expected to drop from Monday night.
The forecast hot weather comes as sea surface temperatures in Australian waters have reached a record high for the fifth consecutive month.
The weather bureau said sea surface temperatures around much of the Australian coastline during February were the warmest on record since records began in 1990. Sea surface temperatures were also the warmest on record since 1990 in October, November and December 2024, and January 2025.
The temperature was up to three degrees warmer than average in waters off Western Australia’s Pilbara and Gascoyne coasts, the weather bureau said.
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