Darwin Airport may have experienced its warmest night on record last night, with the mercury struggling to drop below 30 degrees.

The lowest temperature measured at Darwin Airport throughout Wednesday night and Thursday morning was 29.9 degrees. This oppressive nighttime 'low' is higher than the site's previous highest minimum temperature record of 29.7 degrees, which has occurred on five separate occasions since the site commenced in 1941.

However, last night's oppressive minimum temperature won't go down as the new record officially.

Daily weather extremes are measured during the 24 hour period from 9am to 9am each day. The official maximum and minimum temperatures are simply the highest and lowest temperatures observed during this period, respectively.

The lowest temperature recorded at Darwin Airport during the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday was actually 29.6 degrees, which occurred at 9am on Wednesday. This will be the official daily minimum temperature registered at 9am on Thursday morning.

Unfortunately, this means Thursday morning's low of 29.9 degrees may not have broken the record. While it still may have been, there is no way of knowing whether other previous overnight periods were warmer than last night, using the 9am to 9am rule.

But while last night may not have officially been Darwin's warmest night on record, this probably doesn't matter for locals that just endured the oppressive night. Elevated relative humidity, light to moderate winds and high temperatures made most of the night feel like 35 degrees, so it would have been a sweaty night without air conditioning.