Heatwave to strike Melbourne while Sydney is bathed in sunshine: Your New Year’s weather forecast

Temperatures will heat up across Australia’s south-east coast as the nation welcomes in 2022.

Forecasts for the first day of the new year show hot, sunny days in the south-east and west of the country, with patchy showers up north.

A large high pressure system in the south-east of Australia is drawing heat down from the interior of the country as 2021 turns into 2022, causing a toasty maximum temperature of 37C in Melbourne on New Year’s Day.

The city’s famously warm north wind will blow all day until a southerly change is forecast for later in the day, dropping the temperature by 10C for Sunday, January 2. The week will then see a number of partly cloudy days with temps in the mid-20s.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s three-day forecast shows heat being drawn down into Australia’s south-east over the New Year’s period

Sydney will see a mostly sunny day on January 1 with a top temperature of 29C, with showers forecast later next week. Pictured: People sunbathe at Bondi Beach

Sydneysiders will nurse hangovers and make or break New Year’s resolutions on a New Year’s Day that is mostly sunny but humid, with a top temperature of 29C. 

There’s the chance of an afternoon thunderstorm but it will likely be confined to the city’s outer west.

Showers are forecast for later next week but temperatures will remain in the high 20s and early 30s most days. 

Of the capital cities, Brisbane shapes as the most likely to receive rainfall on January 1 due to a tropical low pressure system across the top half of the state, which is bringing unsettled conditions.

‘This is one situation where there is less confidence in the rainfall outlook as a lot will be governed by what that tropical low does as it meanders offshore (and possibly onshore) over the next 10 days,’ climatologist Andrew Watkins tweeted on Friday. 

Brisbane could see 2-8mm of rain fall on New Year’s Day, continuing its pattern of variable weather over the Christmas-New Year period

The Queensland capital will bring in the new year with a partly cloudy day. Above, a woman buys fish and chips on the Gold Coast on Friday

The Queensland capital will bring in the new year with a partly cloudy day, with a 70 per cent chance of showers in the morning and afternoon bringing between 2-8mm of rain. 

A southeasterly breeze should moderate the heat somewhat, with a top temperature of 27C predicted for New Year’s day but rising to 31C the following two days. 

South Australia and the ACT will experience a similar weather pattern to Melbourne – Adelaide will reach 37C on January 1 with only a five per cent chance of any rain on an otherwise partly cloudy day.

Canberra can expect a mostly sunny day and 31C. Cooler days and a possible shower on Thursday next week are predicted to follow.

Hobart will welcome the new year with a partly cloudy day and maximum of 28C but rain and cooler temperatures are forecast for the following two days.

Melbourne will see a number of partly cloudy days with temps in the mid-20s next week

Perth will wake up to a more bearable 29C on January 1 and a mostly sunny day, a welcome change after experiencing four consecutive days over 40C at Christmas

In the west, Perth will wake up to a more bearable 29C on New Year’s Day and a mostly sunny day, a welcome change after experiencing four consecutive days over 40C at Christmas. That run of extreme temps had only occurred twice before, in 2016 and 1933.

It is expected to heat up again, however, with 38C predicted by Wednesday next week. 

The Australian city with the most predictable weather at this time of year, Darwin, will reach 33C with a possible shower or storm forecast during the day. 

Australia continues to experience La Niña conditions, combined with effects of the monsoon season, at least in the country’s north.

That generally means wetter, more changeable weather, despite the stable pattern in Australia’s south-east in the coming days.