Preliminary figures from the Bureau of Meteorology showed 24 days in March recorded temperatures above the long-term maximum mean of 27.7 degrees.

Bureau senior forecaster Stephen King said this trend mirrored results nationwide.

“For the country as a whole, it will be in the top three warmest Marches,” he said. “Victoria is likely to have its warmest March on record, breaking the record set last year.”

In Albury-Wodonga, March 2016 started with 17 consecutive days above 30 degrees, the thermometer rising past 35 degrees 12 times in that period.

For the rest of the month, temperatures were 28 degrees or lower.

This year the above-30 degree days came throughout the month, for example Monday registered 34.7 degrees ahead of the destructive North East storms.

February this year had 18 days above 30 degrees, although three also surpassed 40. Eleven March days were hotter than the same dates the previous month.

March 12 produced the month’s high of 36 degrees while Thursday was the coolest day with 20.5.

Some March nights nearly reached that figure too – 10 daily minimum temperatures passed 18 degrees and three of those hit 20. Friday’s final day of March proved colder nights were coming, the low being 6.9 degrees.

Rainfall totals for March have been harder to gauge owing to monitoring issues at Albury Airport, but Mr King expected falls to be below average. The Hume reservoir station recorded 34.millimetres on March 21.

Mr King said weather patterns did not change much during March.

“We had that long-term sort of blocking pattern, which meant that the high pressure systems weren’t really going anywhere,” he said.

“So we didn’t get any strong cold fronts come through that we usually see this time of year, it was just basically a prolonged month-long warm period that was coincident with the calendar month.

“The next week or so we’re back to normal autumnal weather, with the cool mornings, mild to warm days and a nice warm start to the school holidays.”