As winter 2010 draws to a close and spring arrives, aptly many places across the south and southeast have seen the mercury peak at levels not seen since April. Over the last two weeks warm air has been slowly building over the Australian interior, a sign that spring is upon us. Today, some freshening northerly winds dragged some of this warmth into Victoria and South Australia ahead of a trough sitting over Western Australia. This weather pattern is something more of a spring/summer set up than a winter one and the statistics speak for themselves. Melbourne's top of 18 degrees was three above the August average and the highest since May. Adelaide hit 20, their warmest since May too. Over in Western Australia, where the northerlies really kicked in, the mercury literally rocketed. Through the Eucla maximums peaked 10 to 13 degrees above average. Eucla itself hit 31, the highest since April and three years for August. But the late winter warmth will not last, as colder air moves through during the middle of the week. By next weekend sunny skies will be replaced by cloud and rain so don't put the umbrella or the woolly socks away just yet.