An exceptionally hot air mass will cause temperatures to soar over northwestern Australia towards the end of this week, with some models suggesting that 50ºC is a chance in the outback.

A lack of cloud cover and a broad, stagnant area of low pressure will allow hot air to build over central Australia during the next several days.

Towards the end of the week, this heat will drift towards the northwest and become more focussed over the Pilbara, Kimberley and North Interior districts of WA.

The hot air mass will cause Severe to Extreme heatwave conditions across a large area of central and northern Australia this week.

Alice Springs is forecast to reach 39 to 41ºC every day between now and Saturday, which is 4 to 6ºC above average for this time of year.

Further north, Rabbit Flat in the Tanami Desert could hit 44 to 45ºC during the five days from Tuesday to Saturday.

But Alice Springs and Rabbit flat both lie several hundred metres above sea level, sitting at elevations of 546 metres and 340 metres respectively. This height will help limit the heating this week, given the air cools by about 1ºC for every 100 metres of elevation in the lower atmosphere.

However, once the hot air spreads to low-lying regions in norhwestern Australia later this week, temperatures could approach 50ºC.

The image below shows predicted surface air temperatures from the ECMWF-HRES model on Saturday and Sunday. Both days of the weekend have the potential to see temperatures of around 50ºC somewhere in the north of WA.

Image: Forecast surface air temperature and wind at 2pm AWST on Saturday, December 18, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

Image: Forecast surface air temperature and wind at 2pm AWST on Sunday, December 19, according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

While 50ºC is a chance in the north of WA this weekend, it's unlikely that this type of heat will occur at one of the state's official weather stations in the region.

Port Hedland may be too close to the coast for 50ºC and is currently forecast to reach 47ºC on Sunday. However, it could exceed this forecast if the sea breeze is delayed enough and may challenge the site's December record of 47.9ºC from 1954.

Australia's highest officially-recorded temperature in December was 49.9ºC at Nullarbor in SA in 2019.