It felt impossible to sleep this morning without air-conditioning in Adelaide. Temperatures were near 30°C all night and dropped to a minimum of 29.6°C around 6:30am over West Terrace, the official station for Adelaide. The city has not seen a morning so hot since January 31st 2020, when a minimum of 29.0°C was recorded.  

What caused all this heat? A broad trough, with northerly winds ahead of it is drawing a hot airmass from the interior southward and causing heat over South Australia. Temperatures have quickly risen through the day, reaching 39.1°C at midday, with an expected in the high-30s this afternoon. 

A strong cool change is expected from mid-afternoon with a front and a trough crossing the region. This system should bring some showers and isolated thunderstorms in the afternoon and evening. A temperature drop of more than 7°C in an hour will come with southerly winds blowing from the late afternoon, bringing a much more pleasant night of sleep tonight. 

Tomorrow the scenery will be completely different: southerly winds will bring a chilly morning, potentially dropping as low as 15°C in the early morning, and daytime temperatures reaching a maximum of 27°C. This cool interlude will be brief but will drop temperatures significantly, between 12-15 degrees cooler than today, ahead of another pair of warm days on Monday and Tuesday, with temperatures expected to reach the mid-to-high 30s once again, although not as intense as the heat experienced today. Another trough and front followed by deeper southerly winds will bring a more definitive drop in temperatures from mid-week in Adelaide.