A scorching end to 2016 will ensure Sydney registers its hottest year in more than a century-and-a-half of records.

A blisteringly hot end to 2016 is in store for Sydney and those holidaying up the coast, prompting warnings.

South Australians could be buying a couple of kilos of horse meat along with their beef mince or pork chops as the government looks to review food regulations.

Sydney's hot weather is predicted to intensify over the next two days with a spike in temperatures and minimal chance of rainfall.

Four people have been killed and more than 380,000 evacuated as Typhoon Nock-Ten brought howling winds and heavy rains to the Philippines.

A string of 30-plus days and warm nights is forecast to bring in the new year in the capital, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Echidna makes a surprise visit to Shelly Beach

Queensland's coast is covered in plastic rubbish, according to research from the CSIRO, and the bad news is we only have ourselves to blame.

A hot air mass moving towards Sydney will ensure a sweltering end to 2016 for most of the south-east of New South Wales.

Melbourne has had a hottest Christmas Day in 18 years, with the temperature topping at 36.3 degrees at 4.30pm today.

The west of New South Wales will be hit by higher temperatures in the coming days before cooling off midweek, as a hot air mass moves towards Sydney.

A powerful late-season typhoon Nock-ten is spinning towards the Philippines.

Canberrans may be left dreaming of a white Christmas on Sunday with the mercury set to hit 31 degrees.

Most of New South Wales will swelter through Christmas Day with a heatwave affecting much of the State, including parts of Sydney, the Bureau of Meteorology says.

A severe thunderstorm warning has been issued for parts of NSW to the north and east of Canberra.

Holidaymakers may want to keep a eye on rain radars as well as the mercury over the coming week.

A warm and sunny morning is expected to greet Canberrans on the year's most festive day, but a turn for the worse remains up in the air.

Its eruption 39,000 years ago may have set off a 'volcanic winter' that contributed to the extinction of the Neanderthals.

The government has confirmed Australia's greenhouse gas emissions are rising, and projected that it will not get near its 2030 climate target under current policies.

If Santa really lived at the North Pole his sleigh would run the risk of falling through the ice.

• COMMENT

As plans are made ahead of the festive season, why not consider someone who doesn't want anything from us but compassion ... and to be left off our plates.

A trial of aerial drones at Redhead Beach has been extended for the rest of the school holidays, after a drone found a three-metre great white shark swimming among surfers on Tuesday.

World temperatures are likely to dip next year from a sizzling record high in 2016, when man-made global warming was slightly boosted by a natural El Nino event in the Pacific Ocean, scientists said on Tuesday.

Sydneysiders will have to wait until the evening before relief from the heat arrives with a burst.

A dozen hopeful whale watchers got to see something few people have.

If someone asked you to name the necessary five steps for preparing your home for bushfires this season, would you be able to?