A surfer takes in the rays on manly 9am this morning. Photo: Julie Cross Source: Supplied
It's official: Sydney has registered its warmest winter on record - along with Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra.
Temperatures on the east coast have been well above average with all four capital cities recording close to two degrees above their long term average minimum and maximum temperatures this winter.
Sky News Senior Meteorologist, Tom Saunders said the balmy conditions stretched from the far north's Cape York, through the interior and down to Tasmania.
"The record warm winter was due to the dominance of high pressure over Australia and the associated reduced number of cold fronts during June and July which prevented polar air pushing north to our shores," he said.
Brisbane's average temperature of 17.2C beat the 1973 record of 17.1 while Sydney's average of 14.9 was well above the 1988 average of 14.6C.
Canberra and Melbourne recorded respective averages of 8 and 12.17 degrees - a fraction higher than previous records set in 2009 and 2005.
Sydneysiders barely felt the winter blues but eagerly welcomed today's burst of summer with the mercury expected to hit 26C by mid afternoon.
At 9.45 today, the city had reached 22C.
But it's the weekend weather that will have people smiling - with the mercury tipped to rise past 28C in the city and into the low 30s out west.
One-year-old William Knight making the most of our balmy conditions. Source: News Limited
This winter is set to be in the record books as Sydney's warmest in more than 150 years.
With the mercury reaching over 20C today and tomorrow, the city will notch up its balmiest winter since records began in 1859, the Bureau of Meteorology's Blair Trewin said.
Today's top forecast of 27C "happens once or twice a decade" in August but is a long way from the record 31C in 1995.
Not too shabby... our weather’s looking fine Source: Supplied
"The most distinguishing feature of this winter has been the consistency of relatively mild conditions and very few periods when temperatures were significantly below the average maximum of 17C," Mr Trewin said.
"At the moment the average maximum temp for winter is 19.5C which is slightly ahead of the previous record of 19.4C set in 2005." Click here for the weekend's weather
By tomorrow Sydney will have notched up its 20th day of temperatures above 20C for August, smashing the previous record of 18 set in 2009.
BOM records show the top four warmest winters recorded have all occurred in the past 12 years.
"There's certainly been a real clustering of warm winters in the past decade," Mr Trewin said.
"If you look at the warmest winters in record before this year - the top four and six of the top seven - have happened in the 12 years since 2001."
Reader Rickie Tsang captured this early Spring sunset at Sydney Olympic Park. Source: Supplied
Conditions this month have been mostly dry, despite a soggy start to winter, with above average falls of 316mm in June compared with 33mm in July and 15mm so far this month.
"We've had slightly above average rainfall this winter because of June which was wetter than normal but nowhere near the top 10," Mr Trewin said.
Despite a good dump of snow earlier this month proving a salvation for skiers, the season might be all but over.
Another day of blue skies above the Sydney Harbour Bridge and Circular Quay. Source: Supplied
If next week's forecast of record mid-30Cs temperatures proves accurate it might be time to get out the togs instead.
"Over the next week or so it's looking very warm for this time of year through a lot of south-eastern Australia though the coast will miss most of the extreme temperatures,"' Mr Trewin said.
Tibooburra, in the far northwest is expected to reach 33C-35C every day from Sunday to the middle of next week while southern NSW will hit the mid- 20Cs from Sunday to Thursday.
A man walking his dog during one of this week’s glorious sunsets at Sydney Park, St Peters. Source: News Limited
And getting ahead start on summer is one-year-old William who this week enjoyed his first visit to the beach.
Mother Leeanne Knight said the family escaped the relentless Canberra winter for a week's holiday on the sunny beaches of Newcastle.
"It's William's first time at the beach and the water's still a little too cold for him but he's just loved having a chat with the seagulls and pelicans," Leanne said.
Reader Paul Goulding caught this stunning sunset this week. Source: Supplied
"We moved to Canberra in January and have just gone through our first winter which was apparently mild - if you can call 2C every morning 'mild'," Mrs Knight said.
"Apparently it's normally minus two!
"We were so sick of the cold we thought we would get away and chase some sun and it's been absolutely sensational every day."
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