The record high temperature of 41.8 for late March at Esperance, WA paved the way for high maximum temperatures of 34 or 35 degrees in the Wimmera and Western Victoria, as well as the hottest April day on record in Hobart on Saturday April 3.
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The temperature hit 32.3 in Hobart, breaking the previous hottest April day on record of 31.0 on April 1, 2014.
It was only the fourth time in 140 years that the temperature has reached 30 degrees in April in Hobart. The other times were in 1941 and 1992.
Hobart's 32.3 was three degrees higher than the highest temperature for last March and there was only one previous episode in the past 140 years when this happened in the same year.
That was in 2005 when April turned out to be notably warmer than normal in both Victoria and NSW.
The temperature reached 33.9 in Wangaratta on April 10, 2005.
Maximum temperatures in NE Victoria just topped 30 degrees on Sunday and Monday during Easter and it was not any hotter in the Riverina.
It remains to be seen if the highest temperature this April in NE Victoria turns out to be lower than Hobart's record April temperature of 32.3 which has never happened in the past 110 years.
Believe it or not the mean maximum temperature since last November has been above normal every month in Hobart, quite different in Melbourne where it has been the coldest since 1996.
Perth had well above-average rain in both February and March after a notably warmer December and January which did follow a record wet November.
The records at Perth show there was a similar occurrence in 1992 and to some extent in 1915 and 1963.
There was very little rain during April in NE Victoria after these three, except for a brief moderate rain about April 28.
But heavy rain expected by mid-May will set the pattern for a very wet winter then continuing very wet up to early October.
Port Hedland had one of its coolest Marchs on record after one of its hottest Januaries on record this year. From the records the last time this unusual weather event occurred was in 1977.
April 1977 started with warm sunny days to 30 degrees in NE Victoria, then a wintry change arrived on April 8 with only a few millimetres of rain despite Melbourne suburbs receiving heavy to flood rains.
The rest of April was cold and dry but welcome rain fell mid-May.
Brisbane, after having its wettest March since 1974, has now had nearly 100 millimetres so far this month, the wettest start to autumn since 1989.
The autumn and winter of 1989 was very wet in NE Victoria.
