Sydney swelters through hottest March night in 149 years

Sydney has recorded its hottest March night in 149 years after a day of scorching heat across the city yesterday.

Transcript

00:00A Sunday splash.

00:04Yeah, it's a hot day and we're just getting amongst it.

00:07With temperatures reaching 38 degrees in the west,

00:10Sydney's scorching start to autumn has its perks.

00:14We knew it was going to be hot.

00:16It's almost too hot to be in a place like this.

00:18But, yeah, we've got a way of pulling ourselves down.

00:21It's a scorcher from yesterday and then today it's just

00:25I had to take the kids somewhere.

00:27As the mercury soared, a record that stood for almost 150 years

00:32was broken.

00:33Sydney did record its warmest March night on record yesterday.

00:37It only got to 25.9 degrees early this morning and that is

00:41basically we've been keeping records since the 1800s.

00:44The sweltering heatwave has put authorities on alert.

00:48Heatwave is actually the biggest natural disaster killer.

00:51It kills more people than fire and flood.

00:53And with hot, windy conditions, total fire bans are in place

00:57across large parts of the state.

01:00In Bondi, thousands flocked to the shore.

01:03Temperatures in their high 30s, no barrier for beachgoers.

01:07Because there hasn't really been any weather systems coming through

01:10to push that heat out.

01:11So today we have those very hot northwesterly winds coming through

01:14and that's dragging all that heat all the way to the coast.

01:16For those who couldn't get to the beach today,

01:19Pemrith's answer to Bondi was a hit.

01:22Kids love it.

01:23Main thing is kids love it and there is not much waves here.

01:26So yeah, it's beautiful.

01:28The heat is expected to linger into the evening

01:31until a cool change brings some relief overnight.