Adelaide swelters through warmest day in nearly three years as cool changes sweeps through SA

Adelaide has recorded its warmest day in nearly three years, with the weather bureau forecasting a cool change will sweep through South Australia tonight.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said Adelaide reached a top of 41.2 degrees Celsius at 3:16pm — the highest temperature since January 24, 2021, when it reached 42.7 degrees. 

Kyancutta was the hottest part of the state with a top of 47.2 degrees, followed by Tarcoola with a top of 47.1 degrees and Wudinna with 46.8 degrees. 

BOM senior forecaster Hannah Marsh said a cool change was forecast to sweep through the state overnight.

“The cool change has already gone through Ceduna, we’re expecting it to come through Adelaide overnight and then continue into the north-east of the state on Wednesday,” Ms Marsh said. 

“Throughout the state we saw those temperatures getting into those high 30s and towards 40 degrees … It will remain quite warm [in Adelaide] tonight, we’ll see a minimum of around that 21-degree mark.

“The climate outlooks are indicating that there is a possibility of seeing further hot temperatures, particularly these spike days that we have seen.”

The BOM issued an extreme heatwave warning for the North West Pastoral district, as well as a severe heatwave warning for the Flinders and North East Pastoral districts.

Hot night in far north

Minimum temperatures on Monday night remained in the 30s in some parts of the state, with Oodnadatta reaching an overnight low of 35.4C at 6:30am. 

Manager of the Pink Roadhouse at Oodnadatta Simon Gunther told ABC Radio Adelaide his temperature gauge was “well over” 36C at the same time. 

“We peaked just under 46C yesterday about 5:30 last night, this is read out of the airport obviously so it’s a little bit warmer in town here,” he said. 

“I think we’re gonna get to around 47C today, so we might try and fry and egg on a bonnet or something like that.

“There’s very few tourists around at the moment, and the locals are laying fairly low, if you’re out here at this time of year driving around you’ve pretty much got rocks in your head.”

Many people went to Henley Beach in Adelaide early today to cool off, including mother Ashley Day.

“We’re part of a mother’s group, it’s beautiful here under the jetty at the beach, dip baby’s toes in the water,” Ms Day said.

“It’s early in the morning so, making the most of it before it gets too hot.”

Gordon McColl said he went for a walk along the beach this morning, but would be heading home to care for his elderly father.

“We’ll stay inside in the air conditioner because my father is fairly old, he’s 88, so I look after him, I’m his carer,” he said.

“It’s gonna be pretty bloody hot.”

Staying healthy in the heat

The state’s Chief Public Health Officer Nicola Spurrier warned South Australians to keep cool ahead of the hot weather, which she said could particularly impact vulnerable groups including small children and older people. 

“Avoid the hottest part of the day which is around 3pm, and if you’re going to be outside wear long-sleeve, loose-fitting, light-coloured clothing,” she said. 

“Never leave a child or infant in a car, it gets incredibly hot incredibly quickly, even for a very short amount of time, and the same goes for pets.

“We just do not want to see those preventable accidents happening in our community.”

Professor Spurrier suggested people keep indoors or in cool areas when they can and look out for the symptoms of heat-related illnesses, like dehydration and heat stroke.

A rain band is forecast to arrive on Wednesday with a top of 29 degrees in Adelaide, and conditions are expected to cool further on Thursday.