After a wet and dreary winter and start to spring, Mother nature turned up the heat on Saturday with a top temperature of 24.5 degrees Celsius across Orange.

It was our warmest day of 2021 in over six months - the last time we passed 24 degrees was on April 5, when the dial reached a top of 24.8 in autumn.

And that sunshine will continue this week, too, with a top of 26 degrees predicted for Thursday.

That forecast is up 10 degrees on the average top temperature for October this year, which is about 16 degrees Celcius. The long-term average for October in Orange is closer to 18 degrees.

The region's best chance of rain this week appears to be Friday, with an 80 per cent chance of as much as 6mm.

The welcome spring conditions come on the back of an extremely wet and cool calendar year to date, with 1073.8mm recorded at the city's main weather station at the Orange Airport.

Orange recorded a similar 2020, with over 1100mm recorded across the 12 months.

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