An unseasonably hot airmass just produced the highest wintertime temperature ever recorded in Australia.

A weather station at Yampi Sound in WA’s Kimberley region registered a temperature of 41.6°C shortly after 3:30pm AWST on Monday, August 26. If valid, this will be the highest temperature ever officially observed in Australia during winter, beating the previous record of 41.2°C at West Roebuck on August 23, 2020.

• Monday’s unprecedented winter heat was caused by:
• An unseasonably hot airmass that built up over northern Australia during the past week under the influence of a slow-moving high pressure system
• Sustained east to southeasterly winds on Monday, which carried hot inland air towards the Yampi Sound weather station
• The background warming influence of climate change, which has caused WA’s average August maximum temperature to increase by roughly 1.8°C since 1910

Image: WA’s August maximum temperature anomalies between 1910 and 2023, showing a warming trend of roughly 0.16°C per decade. Source: Bureau of Meteorology

Today’s remarkable heat was the latest in a series of record-breaking winter temperatures over the past few days.

South Australia set new winter maximum temperature records on both Friday and Saturday and a new winter minimum temperature record on Sunday morning.

With the hot air mass likely to stick around northwestern Australia for the next few days, we should see more temperatures over 40°C in the Kimberley or Pilbara.