If it feels like this summer has gone on for longer than usual, you’re not imagining things. After Sydney recorded its muggiest day ever on record back in January, it’s just been confirmed that Sydney has now recorded its hottest start to March in 109 years – with nine consecutive 28-degree days.
Before yesterday’s (welcome) cooler, rainy turn, the temperature at Sydney's Observatory Hill peaked at 32 degrees – well above the normal monthly average. In the preceding eight days, temperatures in the Emerald City consistently exceeded 28 degrees – making the first week of March the warmest that Sydney has seen in more than a century.
Generally, the average temperature in Sydney in March sits between 22 and 26 degrees, but temperatures for the first 15 days of March this year often exceeded 28 degrees – with the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) recording an average maximum temperature of 28.7 degrees and a maximum temperature of 32 degrees.
According to the BOM, temperatures in Sydney only fell below 18 degrees on three out of the first 15 days of March – with most days recording a balmy 19- to 20-degree minimum temperature, and temperatures only once falling as low as 16.3 degrees.
As Weatherzone so accurately put it, “one of most memorable things about this summer for Sydneysiders will be the abundance of sweat”, which they put down to “abnormally high dew point temperatures in eastern NSW over the last few months”. The mugginess that began in January has continued through to March – we've seen consistently high dew point temperatures, and very little rainfall (just 2mm of rain recorded, compared with a typical full monthly average of 135.6 mm). Wow.
After the hottest start to March since 1915 (the second hottest on record), it looks like we’re in for a cooler turn – with temperatures not set to exceed 26 degrees for the next few days thanks to some southeasterly winds and occasional showers. Some sweet relief from the sweating.
Heat seekers, you’ll want to make the most of it while it lasts – it looks likely that La Niña will return to Sydney soon.