Orange has sweltered through its hottest December day in nearly a decade, with Tuesday's top of 35 degrees Celcius a new record for the first month of summer.
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The old mark of 34.7 degrees was set on December 17 of 2009, but that benchmark was eclipsed at 2pm when the mercury hit 35 degrees.
The temperature hovered around that area of the gauge for most of the afternoon, and hit 34.9 degrees at 4pm, before cooling slightly thereafter.
The continued stretch of warm weather will be maintained over the next seven days, too, with tops of 27 degrees on Friday and Saturday the only coolish change on the horizon.
Wednesday's expected top of 33 degrees will be followed by a peak of 29 on Thursday.
The forecast for rain across the next seven days is minimal as well, with Wednesday's prediction of a 10 per cent chance of less than 1 millimetre the brightest prospect for some rainfall, all be it limited.
Dubbo hit 42 degrees on Monday and then backed it up with a top of 41.3 degrees on Tuesday, while further west at Bourke the mercury peaked at 44 on Tuesday.
A total fire ban remains in force in Orange for the second consecutive day due to ongoing heatwave conditions.
The total fire ban runs until 11.59pm on Wednesday, December 11. During a total fire ban, no fire may be lit in the open and all fire permits are suspended.
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