Darwin has broken its January temperature record for the second day running. Yesterday, the Northern Territory had a scorcher with Darwin recording its hottest January day on record with 36.0 degrees. As the mercury notched up the record it felt more like 41 degrees in more than 50% humidity. Today has been almost exactly the same with 36.1 being recorded at 1:37pm before the late arrival of the seabreeze. The reason for the exceptional heat is the presence of a high pressure ridge focussed to the south. This ridge is typically strongest during the build up, when it directs dry southeasterlies into Darwin, holding out the seabreeze. This has happened the last two days before a late seabreeze. These temperatures are well short of the Darwin heat record of 38.9 set in October 1982, but they are well above the January average of 31.8 degrees. The ridge will weaken further tomorrow, allowing the seabreeze to push in earlier with the risk of an afternoon shower. Wetter weather could be returning to Darwin and the rest of the Top End on the weekend and into early next week as the monsoon trough is expected to return to the Arafura Sea.