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Hobart set to cool after a warm start to February

Craig McIntosh, Wednesday February 10, 2016 - 14:50 AEDT

The first ten days of February have set a new record for Hobart with each day breaking the 21 degree mark, although a series of fronts on the forecast will bring a cooler change.

From the 1st to the 10th of this month, the average daily maximum was just over 25 degrees, almost four degrees above average. The hottest day so far this month, Tuesday 2nd, reached 32 degrees, more than 10 degrees above average.

However, most noticeably was the fact that Hobart has not really seen any cool days this month so far, with 10 straight days over 21 degrees to kick off the month, the first time this has occurred in 120 years of records.

Regular troughs forming over eastern Australia have been providing the heat for Hobart, and many other parts of Tasmania. The troughs, often stretching from the tropics to the Apple Isle, draw in heat from central Australia via northerly winds.

This pattern is expected to change in the coming week. A series of cold fronts are on their way from the Southern Ocean and will drop the mercury closer to normal. A weaker front is expected to cross southern Tasmania overnight, slightly reducing temperatures until they bounce back to about 27 degrees for Friday and Saturday. A stronger front is due later on Saturday, and the cold air mass following this front will likely drag daily maximums down to, or possibly below average from Sunday. There is even a possibly of a light dusting of snow on the highest peaks early next week.

Things are likely to return to normal later in the week, with temperatures climbing back above average, although unlikely to reach the record warmth felt in Hobart again for a little while yet.

- Weatherzone

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