A high of 44.4 degrees was recorded at Forbes airport on Sunday afternoon, as summer arrived with a vengeance.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Sunday peak followed a high of 41.6 degrees on Saturday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s online records.
But in good news for those who don’t like the heat, the Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a slightly wetter and slightly cooler end to summer than normal.
Long-term forecasts show minimum and maximum temperatures for January will be about average but there is a strong chance they will be below average in February.
The chances of rainfall for January are also slightly above average for the Central West.
Bureau of Meteorology climatologist Jonathan Pollock said western NSW had enjoyed a milder than normal summer because of the effects of a weak La Nina.
“When it comes to rainfall, there is a wet pattern for parts of Eastern Australia in January but it doesn’t really extend to western NSW. That region has a fairly neutral outlook,” Mr Pollock said.
“In February the odds of increased rainfall increase for the north west of the state but the south west misses out.”
While the Bureau has stressed the current La Nina was unlikely to bring the increased rainfall that have typified the weather event, it has still made for less heatwave days.
“A lot of that pattern is because of what happens in the Pacific Ocean. You typically get more rainfall but because this one started late and was quite weak, it hasn’t brought that,” Mr Pollock said.
“It has stopped some of the extreme temperatures we get but we expect it will start to peter out in autumn.”
2017 weather
Looking back at 2017, last year got off to a dry start with 13.2mm recorded in January and 0.2mm in February.
March made up for it with a whopping 191.4mm – a couple of heavy falls caused flash flooding which will be remembered by many.
The wettest day in Forbes on the Bureau of Meteorology records for 2017 was March 23 with 44.2 mm.
Hottest day in 2017 was February 11 at a scorching 46.7 degrees.
Our coldest morning was July 11 when the mercury plummeted to minus 5.4 degrees.
BOM records show the total rainfall for the year at 414.8mm – well down on the 692.4mm that caused flooding in 2016.
