Sydney, Melbourne and Adelaide will bake this weekend as temperatures across the south-east cities are forecast to climb into the high 30s.
On Saturday, Adelaide could reach a high of 39C and Melbourne 36C, the Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said. Sydney is forecast to reach a high of 32C, with moderate fire danger.
Those low-intensity heatwave conditions would on Sunday move north-east into New South Wales, when Sydney could expect a high of 37C.
The heat is expected to stick around into the evening with the bureau predicting record-breaking March minimum temperatures overnight, especially across northern parts of Victoria including Shepparton and Albury-Wodonga.
“It is quite late in the season to see the heat (but) not unprecedented,” senior forecaster Jonathan How said.
“What it means is that we will see the temperatures up to 12 degrees above the March average and elevated fire dangers as well.”
But as the weekend unfolded, the very warm conditions would give way to a cold front, causing temperatures to drop in South Australia and Victoria on Sunday, and NSW on Monday, Bradbury said.
The cold front would bring strong winds and potential thunderstorms to Victoria, SA and Tasmania on Sunday, with Adelaide dropping to 22C and Melbourne 18C.
After a hot Sunday, Sydney was expected to wake on Monday to bursts of gusty southerly winds and cooler temperatures of 25C.
The bureau said various parts of SA, NSW and Victoria could expect high March temperatures, particularly inland towns: Port Augusta in SA was tipped to hit 41C on Saturday, while Renark was set to climb to 42C.
Broken Hill in NSW was forecast to reach 39C, while Mildura in Victoria’s northwest may reach 41C.
On Saturday, high fire danger was forecast throughout Victoria and south-east NSW with extreme fire danger for much of southern SA, including the Mount Lofty ranges and mid-north districts, Bradbury said.
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She said the extreme fire danger forecasts would be in place because of “very, very dangerous conditions” for any ongoing fires or fresh fires that develop.
The coldest air behind the front would hit the south-east late on Sunday, and continue into Monday, the bureau said.
“Our coldest temperatures are likely to be seen on Monday,” Bradbury said. “That’s when we’re looking at widespread temperatures in the high teens across the south-east – inland these temperatures are likely to reach the low 20s.”
Bradbury said severe thunderstorms could develop through parts of northern and north-east Victoria from Sunday afternoon, bringing heavy rain or damaging wind gusts.
Rainfall in the south-east would be heaviest in western parts of Tasmania on Sunday, with moderate rain expected in eastern Victoria.
