Headline in today's Sydney Morning Herald:
Hottest late April in 88 years April 27, 2010

NOT since the April days of 1922 has Sydney had such a run of warm weather so late in autumn. Last Friday, the temperature reached 30.7 degrees in the city - the hottest day this late in the season for 88 years. A Weatherzone.com.au meteorologist, Josh Fisher, said April typically had warm days but the recent ''late season heat'' was unusual.

But as the end of the month nears, 21 of 26 days so far have been above the long-term April average of 22.4 degrees. The average temperature so far this month has been 25.1 degrees. ''I would say that we would be coming up with quite a [significantly] warm April,'' Peter Zmijewski, a Bureau of Meteorology forecaster, said.

Sunday night was the coolest night since last October for some parts of Sydney, including Mascot and Homebush, hovering around 11 to 12 degrees. Mr Fisher said it has also been quite dry, with just 30mm falling in Sydney so far this month, compared with the usual 126mm in April.

The bureau expects temperatures to stay around average for the remainder of the week.