Autumn is almost upon us, but no one told the Central Australian weather gods, where an ongoing heatwave will likely generate the hottest autumn temperature in Alice Springs since records began at the current site in 1940.

• This Saturday, March 1, Alice Springs is predicted to reach a maximum of 43°C and may even go as high as 44°C. The previous hottest day in March (or any autumn month) was 42.7°C in 2019.
• The average March maximum for Alice Springs is 32.7°C.

Image: Pink represents areas with maximums of 44°C or higher expected this Saturday, March 1.

Alice Springs is rightly known as a hot place, with an annual average maximum (spread across all 12 months) of 28.9°C. But interestingly, it’s not as hot as many other outback locations due to its elevation.

Alice Springs sits at around 570m, which is almost exactly the same height above sea level as downtown Canberra. To illustrate the difference that even a few hundred metres of elevation makes:

• While Alice Springs can expect a top of 43°C or possibly 44°C this Saturday, Oodnadatta (elevation 121m) is going for 45° while Birdsville (elevation 46m) in southwest Qld will likely hit 46°C.
• The hottest temp on record at the current site in Alice Springs was "only" 45.7°C, while Birdsville has reached 49.4°C and Oodnadatta jointly holds the Australian record of 50.7°.

Image: 28-day max temps for Alice Springs, which you can find on the Weatherzone app. 

Why such hot late summer/early autumn weather for Central Australia?

Any time the weather is very stable in the summer months, heat builds up over Australia’s interior with no way of dissipating.

Over the last week or more, any cool changes which have affected southern parts of the continent haven't penetrated anywhere near far enough northwards to cause so much as a wind change in the outback, let alone an influx of cooler air.

Ex-Tropical Cyclone Bianca off the WA coastline also played a part. While the cyclone never impacted the Australian coastline, its presence helped stabilise the upper ridge over Central Australia.

Image: Saturday’s synoptic chart shows a similar weather pattern to that which we’ve seen all week, with heat built up across a vast area of the country’s interior.

Meanwhile the outback heat (which is classified as a heatwave) will continue well into next week, and while temps will be a couple of degrees lower from Monday onwards, all three towns mentioned above can still expect maximums of 40°C or higher for much of the week.

As for those of us in the more populated parts of Australia, the worst of the outback heat will stay well inland without affecting capital cities too much – as has been the case for most of this week.

Western Sydney will come close to 40°C on the last day of the 2024/25 summer this Friday, but temperatures in the rest of the Sydney region will peak in the mid-30s or slightly lower.