A record-breaking hot December, has capped off another year of drought for the Orange area however, some rain is predicted for the weekend.
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Weatherzone meteorologist Sam Brown said there were possible showers, light rain and thunderstorms predicted from Saturday through to Tuesday next week.
"A trough looks like it will move over the region on Saturday and that should bring some storms," Mr Brown said.
"Some models indicate up to over 10 millimetres in and around Orange that might vary, but it looks like there will be definitely be light rain... not enough to make a significant change in anything."
So far that is all the rain that's predicted for January, although that could change.
The predicted wet weather comes after Orange received its driest December rainfall since records, used by Weatherzone, began in 1996 with just 15 millimetres of rain recorded last month. The rain fell in two days on December 2 and 3.
The previous driest December was 22.8 millimetres in 2001. April was also the driest on record according the the Bureau of Meteorology with 0.2 millimetres of rain recorded.
The total rainfall recorded for Orange in 2019 was 479.6 millimetres, significantly lower than the 20-year average of 898.7 millimetres. The driest year on record was 2006 when there was 494.2 millimetres recorded.
Last month Orange also had an average maximum temperature that 4.9 degrees above the 20-year December average and the monthly average for the lowest temperature was 1.1 degrees warmer.
The previous hottest December temperature, set at 34.7, on December 17, 2009, was smashed five times with each temperature exceeding 35 degrees, and the hottest day was Saturday, December 21, when a scorching 38.9 degrees was recorded.
Last month also had the record for the lowest maximum December temperature with 10.6 degrees recorded on Monday, December 2, the previous lowest maximum was 12.1 degrees on December 14, 2008.
There was also a new record for the hottest October temperature set in 2019. It reached 28.9 degrees on October 6, that was 0.2 degrees hotter than the previous record set in 2006.
August 10 also saw a record, however it was for that month's coldest maximum temperature of 2.1 degrees.
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