It was, literally, the perfect storm.
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Meteorologist with weatherzone Jacob Cronje says the Port Macquarie-Hastings and the wider coastal communities experienced a combination of dust and smoke haze on Wednesday.
He said the dust was due to internal thunderstorms across the Central West and was pushed in an easterly direction.
Coupled with that, bushfires in northern NSW and Queensland were "literally pushing a plume of smoke onto the coast", he said.
"That combination of dust and bushfires led to very hazy conditions and poor air quality across Port Macquarie and the Mid-North Coast.
"It was a combination of events; heat with strong winds tend to bring either dust or elevated fire dangers.
"It was literally the perfect storm of conditions for these two things to happen," he said.
Thursday continued to feature hazy conditions.
Those cooler conditions will benefit the more than 11,000 people expected to flock to Port Macquarie for the annual NSW Junior State Cup.
The event kicks off on Friday, February 15.
Maximum temperatures across the three day event look to be under the 30 degree mark with Sunday climbing to 29 degrees.
Saturday is likely to be cloudy with some possible showers on Sunday.
Mr Cronje said Friday's overnight minimum would be around the 18 degree mark.
"We are going to see some sunshine on Friday through the day and that will be mitigated by a south easterly wind - a bit of a sea breeze - through the day.
"That (wind) should kick in late morning to afternoon and it will certainly make it feel a bit cooler.
"Looking to Saturday, we could see some rain but it is likely to be less than one millimetre and restricted to coastal showers."
Mr Cronje said we are likely to see a return to sunnier skies on Sunday.
Monday is likely to be the start of a string of hotter days with a 31 degree maximum forecast.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Monday and Tuesday are likely to be 31 degree maximums with an overnight minimum of 18 degrees.
A strong wind warning for the Macquarie Coast on Thursday February 14 was cancelled.
There are no other warnings current.
The bureau's rainfall gauge on Koala Street recorded 17mm of rainfall in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday.
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