After above average rain in October, Wangaratta for example, has had only 1.2mms up to November 18, the driest up to this date since 1967.

After the wettest September-October in Darwin since 1978 and the third-wettest in 152 years of records, the first 18 days of this month with only 5.6mms is the driest since 1937.

It is the also hottest first half of November in Darwin since 1913.

The summers of 1913-14 and 1937-38 were warmer than normal in north-east Victoria.

Recently in northern Western Australia, Fitzroy Crossing with 46.5 degrees and Halls Creek with 43.7 recorded their hottest November day on record, equalling November 1935 and November of last year.

This is alarming for north-east Victoria in light of this coming summer because both the summers of 1935-36 and last summer were notably hot and dry.

Tennant Creek has had the hottest three-day spell in November in over 110 years of records with 43.1 degrees.

The previous hottest three-day spell at Tennant Creek in November was in 1915, when there was heavy rain in Victoria in January of 1916, and again in 1935.

Halls Creek then set a new heat record for November on Saturday, November 14 when the maximum reached a high of 44.3.

Looking at previous November highs which happened in 1899, 1929, 1935, 1951 and last year, each of these certainly led to a hotter-than-normal summer in our regions.

It will be the sixth successive hotter-than-normal summer at most places.

The extreme heat reached the northern pastoral district of South Australia Sunday November 15 and new heat records for November were set at Woomera, 45.2 and at Oodnadatta, 47.4.

Woomera recorded other very high November maxima in 1968, 2006 and 2009.

At Oodnadatta other very high temperatures for November were in 1944, 1983 and 2006. Out of this batch of episodes, the month of December tended to be very dry and hot for the first three weeks in our regions, with rain and thunderstorms increasing from about Christmas Day onwards for the rest of the summer and into early March.

Perth provided the biggest surprise, having the wettest November with 83.6mms to date in 145 years of records after the warmest September-October since 2015.

The first half of this month in Perth was the coldest since 1991 and before that in 1954 and 1971. This heavy November rain in Perth is unlikely to lead to a wetter-than-average November in north-east Victoria but may lead to useful rains by mid-December.