A scorching end to 2016 will ensure Sydney registers its hottest year in more than a century-and-a-half of records. The mercury is expected to climb to 37 degrees in the city on Thursday and 42 in Penrith, and fall just a couple of degrees shy of that on Friday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. All of coastal NSW will endure a heatwave on Thursday, with
almost all of it either ranked as severe or extreme. (See bureau chart below). Authorities have also activated the state’s heatwave action plan to ensure the public takes care to limit the effects of the heat, such as by staying hydrated and limiting outdoor activity. The surge of late-December heat means Sydney would notch the city’s hottest year in records going back to 1858 “without a doubt”, Joel Pippard, a meteorologist with Weatherzone, said. READ MORE
