Hobart is forecast to break a 29-year May temperature record on Friday, with the city tipped to reach 26 degrees.
The Bureau of Meteorology’s current May high at its Ellerslie Road site in Hobart is 25.7 degrees, set on May 1, 1997.
Friday’s predicted top would push past that mark by a fraction.
The warm spell will run more than 11 degrees above Hobart’s long-term May average maximum of 14.6 degrees.
The bureau says a near-stationary high-pressure system over the Tasman Sea is driving the unseasonable warmth.
“As a result warm north to northeasterly flow will continue into the weekend,” the bureau said in its forecast.
Sea-surface temperatures in the Tasman are running up to 2 degrees above average, adding to the warmth in the airmass moving across south-eastern Australia.
The same pattern has lifted temperatures in Adelaide and Melbourne in recent days.
Hobart is forecast to hit 23 degrees today and is expected to stay warm into the weekend, with 24 degrees forecast for Saturday and 23 degrees for Sunday.
Conditions will then change sharply early next week.
“A slow-moving low pressure system and cold front build over the Bight and are expected to move over Tasmania early next week,” the bureau said.
Monday’s top is forecast to drop to 19 degrees, with showers easing through the day.
Tuesday and Wednesday are tipped to reach just 18 degrees.
