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Anthony Sharwood, 15 Apr 2021, 6:25 AM UTC

Melbourne thinks it's winter, Sydney thinks it's summer

Melbourne thinks it's winter, Sydney thinks it's summer

Autumn gonna autumn.

At this time of year, Southern Ocean cold fronts tend to make their presence felt more frequently in Tasmania and southern parts of the Australian mainland.

But the fronts don't often penetrate too far north, clipping the southern coastline while pushing warm northwesterly winds into New South Wales.

That, in a nutshell, is the reason why Sydney was a dry and absolutely delightful 26.4°C midway through Thursday afternoon while Melbourne was sitting on 15.7°C with intermittent showers.

And for the record, Sydney's average maximum temp in January (its hottest month) is 26.0°C . So Thursday has beaten that.

Melbourne actually reached 19.9°C as early as 12:50 pm Thursday and hovered just above 19°C until about 2:20 pm.

That means the city reached its predicted top of 20°C, as temps are rounded up to the nearest unit. Chalk another one up for the forecasters! But a cool south-westerly change then moved through, dropping temps by three to four degrees in most parts of the city.

Looking forward…

Melbourne should stay cool for the next 24 hours, peaking at 16°C on Friday. The weekend should be a few degrees warmer, with mostly clear skies for Saturday and the chance of light showers on Sunday.

Sydney, meanwhile, should see the continuation of beautiful warm dry conditions into the evening, and shouldn’t feel the effects of cooler air from the south until Friday, when temps are expected to max out around 22°C.

There could then be a shower or two persisting into Saturday, but Sunday looks drier at this stage, especially away from the coast.

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