blister

SYDNEY started the new year with a near-record January temperature, 44.2 degrees, as soaring heat and strong wind fanned bushfires, but a change blew in about nine o'clock last night and offered a cooler night's sleep.
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The mercury at Sydney's official weather station at Observatory Hill stopped rising at 4.24pm just short of the previous record, 45.3 degrees, registered on January 14, 1939.

The Bureau of Meteorology's senior forecaster, Bob Moore, said a report on average temperatures last year to be published tomorrow showed Sydney was enduring a hot spell, and nobody knew when it would end.

It was part of a warming trend that had become evident since 1988, Mr Moore said.

[ Welcome to 2006 - in a blistering 44 degrees ]