Australia heatwave: Sydney’s hottest start to summer on record
Sydney has sweltered through its hottest start to summer in more than 160 years after days of temperatures higher than 40C.
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Sydneysiders have sweltered through the city’s hottest start to summer on record after the mercury soared into the 40s several times.
Thursday was yet another roasting day in the Sydney basin, with temperatures reaching 38.9C in the city and 40.3C at the airport by 4pm.
Added humidity made the heat feel even stickier.
“This hot weather was exacerbated by high dew point temperatures, which made conditions feel muggy during some parts of the day,” Weatherzone said.
It rounded off a sweltering fortnight in Australia’s most populous city, with every day in the past two weeks reaching 26C or higher and two days exceeding 40C.
Cumulatively, those two weeks made for Sydney’s hottest start to summer in more than 160 years of record-keeping.
Sydney’s average maximum temperature during the first 14 days of summer was 29.5C, beating the previous record of 28.9C, set in 1976. Data at Sydneys’ Observatory Hill dates back to 1859.
The record-setting heat was caused by an area of high pressure that lingered persistently over eastern Australia, preventing the hot air from dissipating, per Weatherzone.
The sticky system combined with “abnormally” warm water in the western Tasman Sea that limited the east coast’s ability to cool down.
Sydney remained under a low-intensity heatwave warning on Thursday, which is expected to have migrated away from the city and farther north by Friday and through the weekend.
But that doesn’t mean Sydneysiders will feel cool relief any time soon. The mercury is tipped to reach 33C on Saturday in the city centre. At Penrith in the west, it’s expected to soar to 37C and may reach the 40s again this time next week.
Originally published as Australia heatwave: Sydney’s hottest start to summer on record
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