Weather News

Hot, dusty and windy day in SA

Jacobus Cronje, Saturday October 5, 2019 - 12:13 AEST

Very hot and windy conditions are expected across South Australia on Saturday, bringing the hottest day in seven months to large parts of the state, and fueling fire danger across the region.

These conditions are the result of hot, dry air being dragged from the interior, ahead of the arrival of a weak cold front expected to impact the southern parts of the state during Saturday evening and early Sunday.

Maximum temperatures are expected to approach or exceed 40 degrees across the western and central parts of the state, including at coastal locations such as Streaky Bay, Whyalla and Port Augusta.

Further south, temperatures reaching at least the mid thirties are likely over places like Clare, Roseworthy and Adelaide.

Port Augusta, Snowtown and Woomera could see their hottest October day in at least five years, while Whyalla is expected to see its hottest October day in more than 15 years.

Northwesterly winds ahead of a modest cooling could gust to 80km/h across the western, southern and central interior of the state by the afternoon, with some places potentially picking up the odd gust in excess of 90km/h.

By 10am CST, wind gusts in excess of 70km/h had already been recorded over places like Ceduna, Cleve and inland of Whyalla. These winds will likely raise dust across many inland parts of the state.

The strong winds and very high temperatures are fuelling fire danger across the region. A Severe fire danger rating is currently in place for the North West Pastoral, West Coast and Flinders districts, where total fire bans have also been issued.

A weak, gradual cool change should impact the southernmost parts of the state first, bringing about modest cooling to the Adelaide area from around 6pm local time.

Given that the cool change will be weak, and will only arrive much later during the day further north, it’s likely that temperatures in excess of 30 degrees will linger well into the evening for places like Woomera, Port Augusta, Petersborough and Williamstown.

Conditions are expected to cool significantly overnight, with maximum temperatures on Sunday as much as 15 degrees lower than experienced during Saturday.

- Weatherzone

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