IT was one of those days where you had to eat your Zooper Dooper in record-time before it melted moments after you took it out of the freezer.
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Air-conditioners worked overtime and it was too hot to venture to the beach.
February 12, 2017 will forever linger in the memories as the hottest day on record in Port Macquarie.
Temperatures soared into the 40s as Port Macquarie went past its previous best of 43.3 degrees on the way to a top of 46.5 degrees just after 3.30pm.
In 60 years of records, it had never been that hot.
Weatherzone meteorologist Rob Sharpe said the temperature steadily climbed throughout the late morning and into the afternoon.
“You had a sea breeze in the morning, but that was pushed out by strong westerly winds that kicked in about 2.30pm,” he said.
Incredibly, the temperature rose by eight degrees in 30 minutes from that time.
“At midday it was 31 degrees and there was a steady rise to 37.6 degrees by 2pm,” Mr Sharpe said.
Some residents in King Creek and Wauchope said outdoor thermometers indicated the temperature was nudging the 50-degree mark.
Elsewhere on the Mid-North Coast, Kempsey also rewrote the record books with a high of 46.4 degrees while Taree wasn’t far behind at 45.7 degrees.
Port Macquarie fell just short of being the hottest location in the state.
Weatherzone meteorologist Sharpe said that dubious honour fell to Wagga Wagga who topped out at 47.9.
“The conditions in Port Macquarie were the same as Sydney saw four years ago when they reached a top of 45.8 degrees,” he said.
Thankfully, a repeat of the catastrophic fire conditions on Sunday are unlikely to be repeated any time soon.
“It’s very unusual to see those extreme temperatures,” Mr Sharpe said.
“Because it was such a strong front, westerly winds are generally a lot stronger ahead of it and that was what we saw. They pushed out the morning sea breeze.”
Mr Sharpe said it was “very rare to break records and nothing will come close” in the near future.
“The warmth will return again next weekend, but it will only be 33 degrees on Saturday and inland areas might make it to 40 degrees.”
In comparison, Richmond in Sydney’s west reached a top of 46.8 degrees on Friday.
