I guess some people are just in the wrong spot to be able to enjoy winter. For me the winter is a time of brilliant warm sun on the balcony after frosty nights, alternated by cold bleak days with snow and cozy times by the fire. Also fascinating white cumulus clouds skirting low overhead bearing snow/ice that glisten white in the deep blue sky. Clouds forming into amazing lenticular forms in the wind over the ranges. And also interesting orographic showers that I only ever see during winter cold fronts. Nothing much beats breathing the cool thin air after a frost or snow in the warm winter sun watching the ice melt and then watching it re-freeze at sunset. Winter really is the best for me.

If it doesn't rain by 9:00 tomorrow at Observatory Hill that would make 13 consecutive dry days in Sydney, the longest such spell since at least April 2011 and probably since Spring 2010. In the spirit of 'mini tornado', maybe that's a mini drought. Anyway, we needed a dry spell. The ground is still muddy and squelchy in lots of places after all the rain we've had in the last few months. And it looks set to last a few more days, with a 'mini heat wave' - 3 consecutive maxima of 25. Sydney didn't manage that last summer until Dec 23-26.

Awesome description there PD, I too am a winter lover & also like a few others on here i'm sure, I too envy your location . Having said that though, I also enjoy when the temperature really heats up, obviously prefer it in MUCH shorter stints though hehe.

Ant a couple of years ago I tried painting in the cooler months - too hard, it won't dry, too long between coats etc. Never again. For me painting season is about September to March here. Your proximity to coastal cloud and moisture probably makes it even worse than here. Inside you can use a heater but outside not so easy.

Like PD I love winter as long as I am warm. Beeing warm when all else is cold is wonderful.

Can't believe how frosty we are already this May - I really think we might get a REAL winter this year.

This is more like it, 17c outside and the sea is kicking up a real row, tide must be coming in. 23-22-23 for the next few days. That'll do nicely! Kept sticking my hand out of the car window to see if the air had warmed yet, but really you're inland until you get to Sassafrass, and then the sea effect starts to cut in. Full moon (well almost) = lot of animals out too. Went over 2 dead roos on the road and missed quite a few more live ones.

I had hoped to re-commence the painting earlier but just too busy. I've been at this a year now, according to the dates on my empty paint tins. In summer, you have the windows open and the stink gets in, noxious oil stain. So the autumn/spring window is best, winter's no good as it just hasn't time to dry. Today was pretty good, it warmed up past 10c early in the morning and the paint behaved itself. It's the new-style Cabots oil stain, forms a plasticy surface which is useful.

I guess I have to assume that a 17 max is a pretty good bet up here today, light scattered frost outside currently. Given a light dry westerly I have to believe 26 for Sydney, in fact that is an underestimation, even 29 could not be rulled out.
However the next couple of days will not be the same up here, probably only 15 tomorrow and 13 the next day, so today only is the warm one. Same I would expect for Sydney, next few days 26 is likely but also unlikely to be exceeded like today.

7.9c minimum here PD - we only managed a little over 15c yesterday while Murri St had a rounded 19c & Mt Boyce 17c.
I reckon 17-18c in my backyard is possible today.
Great to have some dry weather after all those months of dampness.

A colder morning than forecast - but that's not unusual really. F/c 3 we would have zero or maybe -1 ish.

Today may actually get to about 20 - when it actually gets there it may feel almost hot

I've noticed that Sydney and Walgett usually have the same maximum temperature in a westerly wind regime, which shows you how significant the warm bubble effect is in this part of the world. Walgett is bang on 30S which is a full 4 deg closer to the equator than Sydney. Hypothetically, if Sydney was robbed of all of its moderation from the east, the climate would be the same as Walgett, I'm sure kizz and CS22 would love it.

28-29 could be on the cards today if the westerly was a bit stronger, but I'll go with 26-27. Yesterday reached 23-24 with an 850 temp of 10, today 850 is 13 so BOM are pretty much spot on I think. When the westerly does get a little stronger tomorrow and Friday, 850s are dropping back a touch.

Temperature is climbing fast here (Illawarra/South Coast), it was forecast to be 24c but it just went past 25c here, and no reason why it shouldn't keep going now the cloud is just about gone.

Had some pretty feirce winds early (felt SW?) but that's gone too. Lovely day but they seem to have lowered the temperatures forecast for the next few days. Guess I should be at the beach and not looking at a computer.

So much for BOM's 18c max at Orange today, already 19.8c and rising! Lovin this weather

Yes about 20 in Bx - positively tropical today!!

Ghost its actually too hot for me outside now it's 22 but feels much hotter in the sun. The office is hot - Aircon about to go on the freshen up the hot air inside. Our office gets very hot very quickly it's about 25 in here. Too warm for this little black duck.

No breeze obviously just a warm air mass.

All this talk of warm/hot weather is obscene!! The WS decided to quit again at 16.1C at 12.15pm, so don't know what the temp really is, however, it is very pleasant outside today following a frost this morning.

Willy-Willys: is there some folklore about what's going to happen weatherwise according to the direction of the airflow in the willy-willy.

I was caught in one in the middle of the main street earlier. I think it was anit-clockwise.

I feel a little awkward quoting my own post from a couple of days ago but it is all for a good cause
Maximum of 18.6c here today. Certainly warmer than I expected. Great afternoon for a quick ride back down to work. The ride home at sunset was gorgeous - mild / calm with a nice orange glow to the west.
I noticed PD had a max of 17.9c at Yetholme.
More warmth forecast for tomorrow before the slide into much cooler conditions over the weekend.
Still 12.1C here at 9.45pm.

Ulladulla got to 26c today, and when I left the house it was 25-something and climbing, very pleasant indeed and hot in shorts and a t-shirt. 22c forecast now for the next two days, quite a dip. Canberra's got wind increasing so that might account for it.

Frosty again on the NT with -3.9 here , -2.6 Salisbury Plains.

In contrast Bellambi was hovering around 20, give or take, all night. I'll take Bellambi any day in these conditions thankyou!

One or two here this morning. Today will be around 22. The office freezes us cold in the morning but gets stuffy and hot in the arvo - sheesh!! Tomorrow should be the last quite warm day (over 20) though for quite a while - suspect we will be in the teens now till Aug/Sept.

Yes DaveM, you had quite a range yesterday from zero to about 23, I think it may still get to that today, I would believe 28 in Sydney. Still could be a few more mild days this month. Looking like it will be quite a dry month too, but I am happy with this now before winter hits proper.

Quite a weird frost up here this morning, screen low was 6.6, even my grass low was not zero, no frost at all in my yard, yet over the fence there was scattered frost in depressions of long grass. If I measured my min only a few meters higher it would only have been about 10deg, yet still can have frost only a few meters below that.