Where "Stinker" Comes From
A "stinker" is a very hot and often humid day — the kind that produces discomfort as much from the combination of heat and moisture as from the temperature alone. The word "stinker" as a general term for something unpleasant or inferior goes back to at least 1600, an agent noun from "stink." Its application to weather extended naturally from that base sense: a stinker day is one so oppressive that everything and everyone sweats, smells, and suffers.
The Oxford English Dictionary's earliest recorded use of "stinker" for a disagreeable, highly unpleasant, and often humid day appears in Sidney J. Baker's Popular Dictionary of Australian Slang, published in 1941, which placed the weather sense in the Australian record from that year. "It's a stinker today" and "it's a scorcher today" are near-synonyms, but "stinker" carries a slightly more humid and miserable edge, while "scorcher" suggests a fiercer, drier heat.
Source:
"Today's an absolute stinker, stay inside if you can."
How Aussies Actually Use It
"Stinker" carries a slightly more negative, complaining edge than "scorcher" — it's what you'd say when the heat is genuinely miserable, not just impressively hot.
It's common in casual complaints about the weather, especially paired with humidity: "it's humid too, what an absolute stinker."
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