ALBURY-Wodonga sweated and sweltered through the hottest December day in almost seven years yesterday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The mercury tipped 40.7 degrees at 2.44pm before dipping back down to 39.2 by 3pm; at 8.05pm, the thermometer was still hovering around 31 degrees.
Yesterday’s maximum was just shy of the 40.8 degrees recorded on December 31, 2006.
Elsewhere in the region, temperatures exceeded that, with 41 degrees in Wangaratta and Benalla, and 42 in Yarrawonga.
And with another scorcher of 40 degrees predicted on the Border today, a Bureau of Meterology spokesman said there is still a way to go before we can beat the heat.
He said a south south-easterly trough would bring little relief overnight before another hot northerly flow brought warmer temperatures again.
A balmy 36 degrees is predicted for tomorrow before a “vigorous cold front” brings a cool 27 degrees on Monday.
“It’s a hot one again, with no really significant weather expected but Sunday will be more interesting with some thunderstorms,” he said.
Yesterday dry conditions kept the region’s firefighters on their toes with two bushfires out at Mudgegonga and Eskdale.
A CFA spokeswoman said the Eskdale blaze began at 1.20am yesterday due to a lightning strike and was contained to eight hectares just before 7pm last night.
Crews would be working into the night to keep it under control.
The Mudgegonga blaze on Black Flats Road was called in at 11am and burnt through three hectares before being extinguished.