Novocastrian 'CJ' Westmore keeps cool in a rock pool at Newcastle Beach. Picture: Waide Maguire Source: The Daily Telegraph
WHILE western NSW baked yesterday, the furnace-like conditions predicted to scorch Sydney didn't eventuate.
Much to the relief of Sydneysiders, an earlier than expected southerly change hit the east coast before midday, negating the 38-40C forecast.
Instead, Sydney peaked at 31C, according to a Weather Channel spokesman.
The southerly change came on the back of a low pressure trough and made its first appearance at 11am - hours earlier than predicted.
By 11.30am the southerly had hit the CBD and reached western Sydney including Windsor and Blacktown.
"It was meant to come through in the early afternoon but it got here a few hours earlier heading off the predicted increase in temperature," the spokesman said.
Penrith, which was predicted to hit 45C, also received cloud cover and reached 31C at midday, the spokesman said.
Weather experts got it wrong after the trough moved faster and arrived earlier than they had expected.By 1pm, the hottest temperature in Sydney was 34C at Terrey Hills on the northern beaches.
Newcastle and the Hunter region instead received Sydney's predicted heat - with the Hunter Valley reaching over 40C before midday.
Other areas also sweltered - Bourke, in the state's far west, reached 45.2C by 1pm while Tibooburra hit 44.7C.
Weather experts said the red centre was responsible for the scorching conditions. A delay in Central Australia's monsoonal season has caused seriously hot conditions which were being blown into NSW.
The Bureau of Meteorology's climate services manager Dr Aaron Coutts-Smith said rainfall in areas of South Australian and the Northern Territory leading up to summer had been "less than half" the normal level.
"There has been an absence of moisture and cloud cover in those areas which usually keeps a lid on temperatures in the summer months." Dr Coutts-Smith said high pressure systems then drag the hot conditions over to other parts, including NSW.
According to the Bureau, there is an average of 25-100mm of rainfall over parts of Central Australia in the three months leading in to summer. There has only been an average of only 2-25 mm fall over the area in the past three months, the bureau said.
The hottest temperature recorded this summer was in Hay on January 5 when the mercury hit 47.9 degrees.
Meteorologist Tim Constable said Australia's maximum daily temperature average record was broken last Monday when the averages hit 40.33 degrees.
The forecast for Sydney this week includes showers and cloudy conditions with temperatures predicted at 24C tomorrow pushing up to 27C on Tuesday and continuing to rise to 32C by Friday. But Sydney's west is still set to swelter, with Penrith forecast to hit 41C on Friday.
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