Sydney and most of the country's south-east are in for a sweaty few days as a hot air mass sweeps across southern Australia.
The Bureau of Meteorology hiked its forecast for Tuesday to 35 degrees for the city with 34 degrees predicted for Wednesday, while Penrith and Sydney's western suburbs will cop 37-38 degrees over those days.
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Temperatures in Sydney will reach mid to high 30s on Tuesday with the region set to experience its hottest two consecutive days since last January.
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Sydney weather: get set to swelter
Temperatures in Sydney will reach mid to high 30s on Tuesday with the region set to experience its hottest two consecutive days since last January.
Monday looks to be more comfortable, with 28 degrees tipped for the city and 33 out west, the bureau said.
Craig McIntosh, a meteorologist at Weatherzone, said the cooling sea breezes that keep the mercury lower along the coast may turn out to be weaker than the bureau expects, with 37 degrees possible for the central business district on Wednesday.
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"The winds look like being strong enough from the north-west [on Wednesday] to prevent a sea breeze," Mr McIntosh said. "It's going to be a scorcher."
The heat is building from the west, with Adelaide expecting tops of 36 and 34 on Monday and Tuesday, with Melbourne likely to get 30 and 34 degrees on those two days. (See the bureau's chart below for Tuesday maximum temperatures.)
The hot spell for Sydney is likely to last until Wednesday evening, when a cool change arrives, dropping maximum temperatures for inland suburbs by 13-14 degrees by Thursday.
Melbourne can expect to have a similar jolt from Tuesday to Wednesday, with a maximum of 20 tipped.
The run of hot days is enough for the bureau to issue a heatwave alert for parts of NSW for the Monday-Wednesday period.
Coastal regions could reach "severe" heatwave conditions over those days, the bureau said. (See map below.)
Any rain behind the cool change is likely to fairly light, with only a few millimetres expected from Thursday.
For now, the fire danger ratings for NSW on Monday are for low-moderate to high, with the likelihood of a higher threat level for Tuesday onwards.
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