South-east Australia is in for a hot weekend, with temperatures up to 12C above average forecast in parts of Victoria and Melbourne expected to experience its warmest April days in four years.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast Melbourne will reach a maximum of 30C on Saturday and Sunday, while Sydney is forecast to reach a high of 26C on both days of the weekend.
Senior BoM meteorologist Dean Narramore said Melbourne will experience its warmest April day in four years this weekend.
Narramore said that the unusually warm weather for the weekend is due to a very large and slow-moving high-pressure system moving over south-eastern Australia and extending well into the Tasman Sea.
“Because of the high-pressure system it’s going to direct northerly winds into south-eastern Australia for multiple days through this weekend and well into next week,” he said.
Narramore said that this weekend’s weather forecast is not record-breaking, but is definitely unusual weather.
Senior BoM meteorologist Christie Johnson said Adelaide is expected to have a run of five days of 30C and above starting on Saturday.
The warm temperatures come as Australia recently experienced its hottest 12-month period on record, ending with its hottest March on record.
Dr Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, told Guardian Australia earlier in April that the 12-month record had been broken by a significant margin.
“We are warming the planet at a significant rate now and we continue to put record amounts of CO2 in the atmosphere,” he said.
Johnson said that there is fire danger predicted across a number of South Australian districts over the weekend, and into parts of Victoria on Sunday.
According to the BoM, Western Australia will experience a heat trough on Friday that starts to build with some late showers and storms pushing into the far south-west.
Perth was forecast to reach 26C on Saturday, while Hobart may reach 22C.
“Even as we move into early next week we will see the heat continue through parts of South Australia, Victoria and southern New South Wales,” said Narramore.
“We can expect the warm weather until at least Wednesday and possibly even until Thursday next week before we see some cooler air return just in time for Easter”.
Australia’s land surface has warmed by 1.5C since 1910, according to the bureau, and the climate crisis has increased the frequency and severity of extreme weather events.
