Modelling points to unprecedented heat across Australia through spring. (Supplied: Chris Yeaman)
Australia is wrapping up an exceptionally mild winter, and modelling continues to favour unprecedented heat across the country through spring.
For Sydney and Melbourne, winter has been the warmest on record, with a mean temperature above all previous years in the Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) meteorological history for both cities dating back to the 1850s.
Canberra also saw its highest ever winter temperatures, while for Adelaide and Hobart, this season will rank as the second-warmest on record.
Temperatures through winter were so consistently above normal along the eastern seaboard, the weather resembled long-term climates well to the north.
For example, Sydney's mean temperature — the average of all minimums and maximums — was 15.3 degrees Celsius, 2.3C above the long-term average, and only a fraction of a degree below Brisbane's winter climate last century.
In a similar vein, Hobart's mean of 10.4C, equals Melbourne's long-term winter average, while Melbourne's 12.2C was just 0.8C off Sydney's historic winter climate.
Also noteworthy this winter was the lack of extreme cold days and snow.
Brisbane only registered two maximums below 20C, and Canberra just one below 10C.
For our national capital, the coldest day this winter brought a high of 9.5C on July 13 — that's the highest ever, lowest winter maximum, and was 3C warmer than Canberra's typical coldest day of the year.
Sydney's lowest maximum this winter was also a record. A top of 15.5C on June 25 was 3.6C above the typical coldest day, and beats the old record of 14.6C from 1979.
With a lack of polar outbreaks this winter, it goes with the territory that snow was scarce.
It was not only a very poor ski season in alpine regions, but many sub-alpine stretches of the ranges that occasionally see snowfalls missed out completely.
For example, snow did not fall in the Blue Mountains west of Sydney for the fourth consecutive year. Last century, a snowfall or two was nearly guaranteed every winter.
The west coast was relatively cool this winter compared to eastern states, with Perth's temperatures only 0.3C above the long-term average.
