Adelaide and Melbourne have just spent last night warmer than at any time during this afternoon, and the feat is a chance to be replicated by Canberra and Sydney tonight and tomorrow.

Saturday afternoon turned out colder than Friday night in Adelaide, Melbourne and many places in between as a blanket of cloud started to dump rain and a southerly wind change moved in.

Mild northerly winds under a blanket of thick cloud helped keep the region several degrees warmer than average for much of the night before cooling rain and the southerly wind change arrived.

Temperatures at midnight turned out to be higher than the average daytime maximum for this time of year, making doonas more useful at lunchtime than dreamtime.

Melbourne was 14.8 degrees at midnight, 14.2 at 3am, 13.1 at 6am, 12.8 at 9am, and just 10.6 at both midday and 3pm. The afternoon got as cold as 10.0 degrees at 1:41pm and no warmer than 10.8.

Image: Melbourne’s observations during Friday night and Saturday 

Adelaide was 15.4 degrees at midnight, 11.3 degrees at midday and the afternoon only got as warm as 12.5 degrees under persistent cloud even though rain had cleared.

Image: Adelaide’s observations during Friday night and Saturday

This upside-down weather is all about timing, and that timing gives Canberra and Sydney a chance to make it a clean sweep of mainland southeastern capitals being warmer at night than day this weekend.

Images: Canberra and Sydney forecast for Sunday 30th June

Sydney could do with a mild night (and day) after its coldest start to winter in 17 years (minimum and maximum temperatures combined to average a touch under 13.6 degrees in the first 27 days).