Tamworth sweated through one of the mildest summers on record, with just two 40-degree days through the entire 2021 season.
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The thermometer broke 30 on just 46 occasions, well below the average of 60.
And the mercury hasn't hit 40 in two months. Tamworth airport last measured a 40-degree day on the first and second days of summer on December 1 and December 2.
It's the coldest summer Tamworth weather guru and administrator of the Tamworth Regional Weather Facebook page Dave Farrenden can remember.
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"All indications look like it's going to be one of the coolest summers we've seen in a long time, maybe even on record," he said.
Usually Tamworth endures about half-a-dozen 40-degree days, an average of about two a month, he said.
Mr Farrenden credited the season's mild temperatures to La Nina, which shaded the city in cloud cover - and storms - for much of summer.
"If you go through the La Nina years usually the summers are a lot cooler than they normally are," he said.
"Every single month we saw below average temps. Going on that alone I think we will see probably the coldest summer on record."
It's a far cry from the summer of 2019-20. Last year there were just a handful of days when the mercury didn't exceed 35 degrees. The bureau also recorded Tamworth's hottest ever December day in 2019.
Mr Farrenden said the future is likely to be similar, with the city likely in for a stormy March and potentially a wet winter.
And moisture during winter means only one thing, he said.
"With snow you need moisture. If there's plenty of moisture around you'll get plenty of snow," he said.
The reality did not live up to Bureau predictions of a hot summer, with the agency forecasts estimating Tamworth had a "very high" chance of consistently beating its 30.3 degree average.
It was more accurate in forecasting plenty of rain.
Tamworth received over 331.8mm of rain in the summer months to Friday.
December was the wettest month, with 223.6mm of rain falling at the Bureau of Meteorology's airport station.
As a result the drought has virtually broken, according to Department of Primary (DPI) Industry data.
The entire Tamworth local government area is marked "non drought" on DPI's combined drought indicator.
Just two per cent of the state is in drought, with 98 per cent of NSW in the recovery or non-drought categories.
The La Nina phenomenon, which increases the likelihood of rain in Australia, is likely to ease across Autumn and Winter, according to the Bureau of Meteorology - but conditions are still likely to be slightly wetter than average.
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