With so much focus on the cold weather down south early this week, it may come as a surprise to many that Australia just recorded the first day of 40°C or higher for spring 2021.

But that's exactly what happened when just after 1:30 pm local time, temperatures climbed above 40°C at Wyndham, the northernmost town in WA's Kimberley region.

Image: Wyndham, WA. Source: Djambalawa via Wikimedia Commons, and you can see more of their amazing work here.

Here's what you need to know:

• At 1:39 pm, the highest reading of the day of 40.5°C was registered at the weather station at Wyndham Airport.
• The average maximum for September at Wyndham Airport is 37.8°C, so this was far from an unusual anomaly. Indeed things got super close on Monday with a top of 39.9°C.
• Wyndham's hottest recorded September day was 42°C in 2009.
• And for those wondering where Wyndham is, the town of about 800 residents is located at the site of the red pin on the image below. The NT/WA border is about 50 km to the east.

Despite the early season heat. Wyndham doesn't actually get as hot in summer as locations further south and west, such as towns like Marble Bar in the Pilbara region.

Indeed, Wyndham's two hottest months are October and November, before the extreme heat starts to ease off  ever so slightly as the moderating effects of the wet season kick in.

But on Tuesday September 14, 2021, Wyndham took the prize as Australia's hottest place, and the location of our first 40-something degree day of the season. Frosty southerners can only dream about those sort of temps on a day like this.