The mercury is tipped to hit 34 in Bendigo on Wednesday, 38 on Thursday and 36 on Friday before dropping to 26 on Saturday.

City of greater Bendigo community services manager Rod Flavell said residents needed to take precautions in the hot weather.

He urged people to drink plenty of water, keep cool and stay inside as much as possible, particularly those who worked outside and were at risk of heat stroke.

“People aged 65 and over, pregnant women, breastfeeding mothers, young children and babies are most at risk,” Mr Flavell said.

He also said people should have backup fans and batteries as power outages were common during the warmer months.

Swimming pools are also tipped to be popular this week.

Bendigo Aquatic Centre duty manager Jackie Wilson said they had more than 1000 people through on Tuesday when the temperature hit 33 degrees.

However despite warnings, forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Peter Newham said the sudden hot weather was typical for this time of year.

He said while the cold weather a few weeks ago was unexpected, the current heat was more typical of December.

“We commonly see stretches of hot weather like this,” he said.

“However Victoria’s weather is changeable, even in summer.”

Mr Newham also put the heat wave down to northerly winds from central Australia.

“The heat will continue but we can expect a colder weekend following the cool change towards the end of the week,” Mr Newham said.

Victorian Farmers Federation president Peter Tuohey  said the warm weather was not unexpected and many farmers were prepared for a hot summer.

“The heat isn’t an issue for most farmers as it won’t hurt crops,” Mr Tuohey said.

“We expect it at this time of year and many farmers handle it well.

“It’ll be a big change from the cold we’ve had.”