Sydney weather: Heatwave expected to last into mid-week as temperature forecast to hit 38 degrees

Sydney’s coastal areas will not experience the usual benefit of proximity to the sea breeze due to the way the wind is likely to move.

“The westerly winds that keep sea breezes at bay result in more evenly distributed maximum temperatures around Sydney, so they’re all around 36 to 38 degrees,” Scully said.

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“Tomorrow is going to be particularly windy with severe weather warnings likely for the Illawarra area of ​​possible damaging wind gusts.”

NSW Rural Fire Service inspector Ben Shepherd said today would be the biggest fire risk since the 2020 Black Summer fires.

“This is probably the broadest area of ​​total fire bans for several years,” he said.

High to extreme fire danger is forecast for most of NSW today, with total fire bans across the Greater Hunter, North Western, Southern Ranges, Central Ranges, Northern Slopes and the Upper and Lower Central West Plains.

“Across the state there are about 30 fires right now and four have yet to be brought under control,” Shepherd said.

“We also saw some lightning activity throughout the night and will be watching for that.”

Shepherd said the RFS had been moving planes around the state and had large air tankers on standby.

“People should also play their part, not making fires outdoors, but also avoiding grinding and welding, which could cause a fire,” he said.

The reason it’s gotten so hot for Sydney and greater NSW is largely due to what’s happening inland, says Weatherzone meteorologist Felix Levesque.

“In recent weeks, much of Australia’s interior has been relatively cloud-free, allowing heat to build up inland,” he said.

“What has drawn the heat to NSW and Sydney is a low-pressure trough that pulls hot northerly winds ahead.”

The heat wave will continue through Wednesday, when a cool change is likely to come from Wednesday afternoon to Thursday.

“Temperatures will be a little cooler tomorrow, but we’re still reaching the mid-30s and later tomorrow we’ll see some drier westerly winds moving across the region,” Levesque said.

“Wednesday will be changeable reaching 30 degrees, it cools down as the wind turns a little more southerly and then cooler on Thursday and Friday.”

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