Tuesday was the hottest December day recorded at the Mid-Western Region's three weather stations - with the Mudgee Airport location venturing into the 40s in the 12th month of the year for the first time in its history.
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The mercury in Mudgee hit 40.4°C, over a full degree clear of the previous record of 39.3°C in 1994. The Gulgong Post Office weather station reached 41°C and the Nullo Mountain location - in the Rylstone/Kandos area - peaked at 34.4°C, outdoing their old benchmarks of 40.3°C and 32.7°C respectively both set in 2005.
A mass of hot air passing over the state on Tuesday, with the passage of a low pressure trough, pushed temperatures some 10 degrees over the average.
What's more, the tough is forecast to stick around for the remainder of this week and into the middle of the next. Keeping the hot and dry conditions around a little longer.
All three local weather stations are badly lagging behind their average December rainfall figures as well, with meager month-to-date totals; Mudgee 2.6mm; Nullo Mountain 4mm; and Gulgong 5.2mm.
With the former two a possibility of recording their driest ever December [Gulgong has had 0mm before].
And by extension, the trio of locations are hundreds of millimetres each off their respective January-December averages.
The ongoing hot and dry weather is also making the job of firefighters tougher, with the Cudgegong RFS District coordinating the response to a number of fires burning in and around the region.
Including at Kerry Ridge, near Nullo Mountain, which has burnt out more than 50,000ha of the Wollemi National Park and under easterly winds threatened a number of properties along Coricudgy Road/Kelgoola Road with crews undertaking property protection.
