One source of info for the CBD and inner Sydney is the Coastwatch Webcam for Sydney Harbour, from which you can take note of the flags on top of the arch (or you can during the day):

http://www.coastalwatch.com/camera/camer...=Sydney Harbour http://www.coastalwatch.com/camera/cameras_large.aspx?cam=3700&state=NSW&t=9:56:12 PM&camName=Sydney Harbour

Kurnell, Little Bay and Fort Denison indicate an approaching seabreeze. Belambi is good for an approaching southerly. Wattomolla was good when it was working. I emailed the BOM a couple of months ago about Wattomolla but nothing seems to have been done.

It did seem to be a big day for strong low-level overnight inversions in inland NSW. A good indicator for this is the minimum temperature difference between the two Coonabarabran sites, which was 12 degrees this morning (1 in town, 13 at the airport). The normal difference at this time of year is about 5 degrees; largest I've seen is 14.3.

ant,

You're not the only one who has ever suffered sub-average rainfall.
The decade you talk about affected many parts of the continent. I've had brown lawns for years until this wet spell kicked back in again. I'm loving the current lush conditions of my garden. Haven't seen it for the term of the decade. I was so sick of the lack of rain, and now that I've had 6 months of it, I'm happy to have a few dry weeks.
We now have full dams and lakes. I love it.

How about we just accept the current cycle for what it is....... - a current cycle, and not all panic about what might or might not be a future El N?

Homer

I don't mind a bit of dry weather but it's like Mother Nature has flicked a switch: I know it's the land of drought and flooding rains but it would be nice to get a *little* bit of average weather before drought sets in again.

A little bit of cloud is delaying the heat build up this morning, but there's plenty of blue to the west.

That cloud (over Sydney) looks like one of those lee wave or standing cloud formations formed by the wind bouncing over the ranges. It is just sitting there and back building like an Addams family cloud. I have been watching the edge of the cloud and using buildings as relative markers. It has not moved for the past hour.
If it does clear off then I find that the heating quickly catches up.

No cloud here, but the wind is really building. we had some amazing gusts through around 5am, set all the flyscreens banging, it abated but now it's back. Went over 25c a while back and the wind is quite warm (the 5am effort was very warm, made outside warmer than inside). It's funny, you get a giant blast and then it settles to almost nothing before the next one.

Canberra seems quite pleasant too, 18c apparently, but with wind gusting over 30 km/hr. I guess I'll be driving into a headwind all the way home this arvo.

Whoever decided to have a beach day Friday in Sydney today would have to be having a rude shock, with Sydney Airport on 15.9 at 11:30am!. I still think it will get well into the 20's this afternoon, but its taking its cotton picking time.
(PS just noticed that is the same temp as up here at the same time)

We are about 21 here, cooler air is only about 150 to 200km away. Temora is similar temp to us, Yanco/Leeton same, Albury Cooler than us. We still have NW winds so temp may get to 22 or 23 before cooling.

That Sydney temp seems bizarre compared to expectations for sure PD. Norah Head was 21 at 9am which was more in line with what I thought for a day approaching 30.

We are still trapped under the lee cloud DaveM, thus the inversion is holding. Once/if it burns off we should warm up considerably, but the window for 30C has probably passed. Could still be 25C or more well after sunset tonight if the wind picks up. The hottest air is progged to pass sometime this afternoon, with the cool airmass not arriving till the early hours of Saturday morning.

BOM have downgraded to 26-27, which is still in reach if the sun were to come out in the next couple of hours. Given PD's temp of 16 you'd expect 28-29 in full sunshine down here.

And here we go- sun trying to break through now. Mt. Boyce sitting around 17 deg: would need that to increase to at least 18 for a shot at 30 in the CBD.

Sun's just burst through here finally SB so I expect some considerable warming over the next few hours. Sitting on 20.1 C here at present.

Homer

That's so weird, why is Sydney coast so cold? Temperature thing here says 25.8c and it's 24.8 inside with the windows open, extremely pleasant. I'm in the bay south of Jervis Bay, one sand-dune back from the beach. We must be in a warm bubble here. The forecast for the area tomorrow is 18c, so even the big bad cool-down doesn't look to be too vicious here (I'll be in Canberra enjoying a somewhat vicious 12c though).

Wind picked up considerably here tha last 30 minutes. Been a N to NW breeze all moring but now much stronger - change to W or SW may not be far away now maybe next hour or two is my guess.

Hasn't warmed as much as I thought it would since this mornings cloud cleared.
Still, it's a very pleasant 23 here atm. Might get another degree out of the sun this afternoon, but can't see much more than that.
Very much looking forward to the cooler temps over the weekend.

Homer

Even a slight seabreeze now in the CBD, so quite pleasant. I wonder if we'll get a late surge of NW winds which will send the temp skyward after sunset, before the cooler air takes over. Even with the late start the Airport has managed to top 27C (recall it was lingering around 16 just a few hours earlier).

Feels quite a lot warmer here than the approx 22 it technically may be. I was out walking about and came back to work and promptly turned the air on. Wife thinks I'm nuts but I am hot from actually moving about for half an hour.

Breeze now just cooled a tad and temp now retreating a bit. Wind still NW but is cooler than it was. No idea what official max was.

Black Cockatoos screeching overhead. Many tales about what they mean in various areas.

Has been a brilliant day in Newcastle compared to Sydney, sun has been out all day and we got over 28c. Looks like low 20's tomorrow then back into the high teens where the thermometer belongs at this time of the year.

This area turns into a drizzle/shower fest when the wind is out of the south so i think we may pick up some rain next week

I maxed out at 23.2 today. That extra degree just never eventuated. It's dropped quite quickly now to 17.9 since the sun disappeared, though I doubt the change has arrived. Just normal evening cooling.

Homer

Drove through that cloudband early this afternoon on the F3 around the Central Coast, and I did wonder to myself how much it might have affected Sydney temperatures. I noticed the Sydney Basin was quite hazy early this afternoon, so I suspect the cool start to the day contributed to that, and was not helped by what looked like some hazard reduction burns in the Blue Mountains. There was actually a brief shower of rain that lasted for about 500 metres or so around Mt White / Calga on the F3 around midday, which took me by surprise, as I expected the cloudband to be entirely virga.

Left SWR at 8am and arrived in Goulburn at 3:15pm, approx 640kms in about 7 hours, not bad considering we had to go through Sydney (if you exclude 10 min stop at Raymond Terrace and also Pheasants Nest). The Hume Hwy from the M7/M5 interchange to Campbelltown/Camden is a busy stretch of road, would hate to travel it during the peak hour...
Goulburn was cool to mild when we arrived, reminded me a bit of being back in Armidale during the wintry months. As it neared sunset, it became quite cool especially if you were in the breeze. I was in a short sleeve t-shirt and boardies so I had a fair amount of exposed skin. Tomorrow is looking cool and breezy, might have to get the jeans out.