‘Like an oven’: Hottest March minimum in six years hits Sydney as heatwave continues

Sydney endured one of the warmest March nights in six years, and the heat wave is expected to last into Wednesday.

At midnight, the temperature on Observatory Hill remained at 24 degrees after Monday’s high of 37.9 degrees. At 5 a.m., the temperature had dropped only to 22.3 degrees, the warmest overnight minimum temperature since 22.5 degrees on March 30, 2017.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecasts that Sydney CBD will reach 34 or 35 degrees by early Tuesday afternoon and Penrith will reach 36 degrees.

Weatherzone meteorologist Felix Levesque said winds dropped to about 4 mph overnight, meaning temperatures remained warm.

“The conditions are like a furnace turned off at night and then the fan kept running and evenly distributed the air across the Sydney basin,” he said. “Around 5 a.m. the wind died down and the cloud cover lifted, which was like opening the oven door.”

Temperatures continue to rise until the wind changes in the mid to late afternoon.

“The sea breeze seems to be playing more of a role (than Monday), so we’ll see those easterly winds come in faster in the afternoon than they did when they came in at 7 p.m. yesterday,” Levesque said.

The wind comes from the north to northwest in the morning. Around 2 p.m., the winds lighten before the easterly wind hits the CBD around 4 p.m., cooling things down.

Sea breezes probably won’t come far inland, meaning the western suburbs won’t cool down until after 7 p.m.