If I asked you what the hottest part of NSW was yesterday, you’d be forgiven for thinking it was somewhere in the outback like Broken Hill or Bourke. But it was actually Sydney Airport which reached a furnace-like 42.5ºC degrees, a massive 19 ºC above the November average! The city itself baked in its hottest day since January reaching a scorching 40ºC.
Thankfully, a southerly buster burst onto the scene at around midnight to bring some gusty relief and temperatures today are around 20ºC cooler than what they were yesterday.
While the official recorded temperatures were in the low forties, it's possible that your thermometer in the backyard could have registered an even higher temperature, especially if it was in the direct sunlight. This is because the temperatures obtained from official weather stations are recorded in what is known as a "Stevenson screen." It's a white box located about 1.25-2m off the ground which houses various meteorological measuring instruments like a thermometer. Its purpose is to shield the thermometer from outside influences like rain and direct sunlight in order to create a "standardised" environment for measuring various meteorological variables.
The fact that the air temperature is measured at height is also important for farmers when forecasting frost because the temperature on the ground itself will be around 2-3 degrees colder than what is recorded in the Stevenson screen.
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