2019 has been declared Tamworth's hottest year on record.
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You're not wrong if you think you've heard this one before, because it is the second consecutive year Tamworth's mercury has reached new heights.
Yes, 2019 pipped 2018 as the hottest year in record on Tamworth.
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But the records set in the last 12 months have been labelled significant by weather bureaus.
The unprecedented heat was compounded by a distinct lack of rainfall.
By the numbers, it was Tamworth's second-driest year in 143 years of records.
There was just 263.6mm recorded at the Tamworth airport this year which was about 40 per cent of the long-term average 671mm.
The only drier year on record was 1994 when 248mm fell over Tamworth.
Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard told the Leader the heat records set in 2019 were significant.
The combined average of the year's minimum and maximum temperatures set a blistering new high-point of 19.1 degrees.
It might sound like a mild temperature, but Mr Pippard said this was 0.7 degrees higher than the previous record benchmark set in 2018.
The average low was 10.8 degrees while mean maximum was an all-time record 27.5 degrees.
A substantial number of records tumbled in 2019, according to the Weatherzone meteorologist.
January and December were the hottest ever.
March set a new high for average minimum temperatures, as did October.
Tamworth recorded its hottest October night in 62 years of records with the mercury failing to dip below 21.3 degrees on October 26.
The 42.3 degree stinker on December 21 was the hottest-ever day recorded in the final month of the year.
March was the only month to record above-average rainfall, while not a single drop fell in the following month.
The searing, unprecedented heat and devastating dryness also saw Chaffey Dam fall from 40 per cent to below 14 per cent capacity in 2019.
Bushfires also tore through substantial swathes of land on the ranges from Armidale up to the Queensland border.
Mr Pippard said the hot and dry conditions could be expected to continue until the monsoon season starts in the continent's north west.
"The reason a lot of Australia has been so hot and dry has been the positive Indian Ocean Dipole and lack of moisture coming from the Kimberley cutting across the country," he said.
"The monsoon season breaks that down."
It isn't likely to start until the end of January at the earliest.
It will be a sweltering start to the new year in Tamworth with five of the next six days tipped to surpass 40 degrees.