News

Adelaide Ashes heating up with 39C forecast on Day 2

Source Weatherzone Thu 18 Dec 2025

Day two of the third Ashes Test between Australia and England at Adelaide Oval will be extremely hot for players and spectators alike, with the temperature already above 31°C at 9am and heading for a top of 39°C. Why is it so hot? A stream of hot northwesterly winds will flow over South Australia on Thursday ahead of an approaching low pressure trough. This weather pattern caused the mercury to reach 36.2°C in Adelaide on Wednesday as Australia batted its way to a sweaty 8-326 at stumps on day one. Image: Forecast maximum temperatures over SA on Thursday, December 18, 2025. Source: Weatherzone. How hot will Adelaide Oval get on day two? Conditions will be even more oppressive on the field and in the grandstand on Thursday. The temperature in Adelaide was already above 30°C before 9am local time on Thursday and had jumped above 34°C by 10am. Forecasts suggest it will reach 39 or 40°C later in the day and should stay hot all afternoon into the early evening, possibly staying above 30°C until after 8pm. Image: Live observations at the Adelaide Oval on Thursday morning in the Weatherzone app. Temperatures will become cooler from Friday as southwesterly winds push the heat out of Adelaide. Friday is forecast to reach a top of 30°C, followed by 28°C on Saturday and 24°C on Sunday. Sunday morning is also likely to be wet. Is this heat unusual for Adelaide? Adelaide is no stranger to intense heat at this time of year. Large pools of hot air that build up over the Australian interior often get dragged towards Adelaide when transient low pressure troughs cause northwesterly winds to strengthen over SA. Adelaide’s average maximum temperature in December may only be 27°C, but there are usually around 4 days over 35°C in an average December. The city’s highest December temperature on record was 45.3°C in 2019. Adelaide is also home to one of the highest temperatures ever recorded during an Ashes Test in Australia, when the mercury reached 43.1°C in 1908, although that was in mid-January. For the record, Australian won that scorching Test against England by 245 runs. - Weatherzone © Weatherzone 2025