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String of heat caps off January for Canberra

Scott Morris, Sunday January 26, 2020 - 12:30 AEDT

While northern and eastern NSW are in for storms and rain, Australia's capital is experiencing a sweltering Australia day, with the hot temperatures set to stretch to the end of the month.

Canberra has already experienced the heat with a day which gave them their hottest temperature for any month on Saturday 4th when the maximum reached 44 degrees. This record has featured alongside some relatively dry weather (less than 30% of their average January rainfall so far) as well as thunderstorms which generated damaging winds and hail, altogether producing an eventful month for Canberra.

On Saturday, the maximum temperature at Canberra Airport reached 33.7 degrees, almost 6 degrees above average for this time of year. This is forecast to be the lowest maximum we should see for the remainder of this month in Canberra.

A trough over Canberra is maintaining heat, and despite a couple of weak fronts, one of which is expected this evening, the temperatures will remain hot. This should mean that the mercury reaches at least 35 degrees each day this week, climbing towards 40 degrees by the end of the month!

While this is a scorching set of days, it should only increase Canberra Ap's January 2020 average maximum temperature a couple of degrees from its current 30.7 degrees, still quite far off 2019's 34.5 degree maximum January average.

Looking ahead into February, things should pick up where they left off in January, although cooler weather should be just around the corner. Another 40 degree day is expected on the 1st of February before a strong cold front removes heat from Canberra, making temperatures much more manageable.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2020

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