If you thought getting to sleep the past few nights was tough, get ready – the temperature is only going to drop to 28 degrees on Thursday night heading into a sweltering end to the week.
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Ahead of the Australia Day long weekend Bendigo is tipped to to hit 44 degrees, Castlemaine 43 degrees and Maryborough 44 degrees during the day on Friday.
A cool change is expected to roll in mid-afternoon – but apart from a few isolated thunderstorms it will not bring relief to any fire crews battling blazes in elevated fire-risk conditions.
Senior Meteorologist Richard Carlyon, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the temperature would quickly drop by up to 15 degrees when a squally change moved through on Friday afternoon.
Read more: It’s a 40 degree day. How do you cool off?
He said before that, however, the weather would be “intense” with “extreme heat”.
Holiday areas along the Murray River – ready for an Australia Day long weekend influx – could break records, with Echuca, Gunbower, Cohuna and Kerang all forecast to hit 47 degrees on Friday.
Airconditioners will be on full-pelt as the latest heatwave hits, putting electricity supplies under pressure on Thursday and Friday. The Age on Wednesday reported that the energy market operator may call on major businesses to power down as Victoria faces a massive heatwave with some of the state's largest power generators partially offline.
There is some relief from the heat in sight for the holiday weekend. Temperatures for the weekend in central-Victoria are expected to be a more manageable mid-30 degrees, before they creep back up next Tuesday.
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