Southern Australia's heatwave shows no signs of abating

http://www.theguardian.com/world/2014/may/22/southern-australias-heatwave-shows-no-signs-of-abating

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South-east Australia continues to bask in the warm glow of an autumn heatwave that shows no signs of abating.

Temperatures in Adelaide, Sydney and Melbourne have hovered five degrees above the May average because of a slow-moving high pressure system in the Tasman Sea, along with northerly winds.

The blocking pattern helped Melbourne reach its 12th consecutive day above 20 degrees on Thursday, the warmest ever for May.

Adelaide needs four more days above 20C to beat its May record of 15 days set in 2002.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast Adelaide will reach 21C on Friday, 22C on Saturday, 23C on Sunday and 20C on Monday.

Sydney has enjoyed 13 days in a row above 22C, smashing the nine-day record set in 1978 and 2007. The bureau forecasts the streak to continue for another seven days.

A senior forecaster, Simon Allen, said the Indian summer in the south-eastern states would linger on for another week.

“It's likely to continue for a bit longer, before it slowly peters out over the next week,” he said.