MOST people in the region would have felt like Cathy Riley’s candles this week, as many areas sweated through their hottest days of the year.
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The official top for yesterday at Mrs Riley’s local Bureau of Meteorology weather station, at Gunnedah airport, was the highest of the year at 42.9 degrees.
And other places officially had their all-time hottest January days yesterday.
The BOM said this afternoon that Haydon St, Murrurundi, and Murrurundi Gap had new records: the former had 41.6 degrees, beating the previous high of 41.2 on January 3, 2014; and the latter had 39.2 degrees, up from the previous record of 38.3 on January 12, 2013.
Armidale yesterday equalled its January 3, 2014, record of 37.1 degrees.
But the real scorcher in this heatwave event was supposed to be today.
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By 6pm, according to the BOM website, the top temp for Gunnedah was 42, Tamworth 41.3, Moree 39.6 and Armidale 34.1.
Mrs Riley, who lives on a property on the eastern edge of town, said it had been so hot already this summer that “I keep asking my husband if we can move to Tasmania”.
“I even went as far as googling properties for sale,” she laughed.
There were six regions across the state under total fire bans today, including the zone encompassing Moree Plains, Narrabri, Walgett and Warrumbungle.
According to Weatherzone, Tamworth and Moree are both headed for tops of 40 on Friday and 41 on Saturday; Gunnedah is set to suffer through 42 and 43.