Sydney and much of NSW will take a rare break from this summer's extraordinary run of warmth, with a day or two of milder conditions before temperatures and fire risks start to climb again.
Fire crews worked through cooler conditions on Monday to control some 26 uncontained bush and grass fires, while surveys confirmed 30 homes were destroyed and five were damaged by the weekend's blazes amid a record-breaking heatwave.
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'My house is totally gone'
Homeowner Warren Jarvis has lost property and animals to a large fire impacting the township of Cassilis in central west NSW.
Sydney is forecast to have a mild day on Tuesday with a top of 25 degrees, possibly only the sixth below-average day for maximums in the first six weeks of 2017. There may also be a few millimetres of rain, mostly along the coast, the bureau said.
Temperatures start to pick up from Wednesday, with a top of 28 tipped for the city before a string of days in the low 30s, including 34 degrees predicted for Saturday. Western suburbs may collect another trio of 38 degree days from Thursday.
While heating up, the warmth "will be nothing like we saw over the weekend", Graeme Brittain, a meteorologist from Weatherzone, said.
That's probably just as well, given statewide average maximums broke the February record on Friday and then again on Saturday, with the latter just creeping over the 44-degree mark.
"In excess of 95 per cent of NSW's land area was in the top three per cent of temperature readings" on Saturday, Stephen Lellyette, acting NSW regional manager at the bureau, said. "That's extremely rare."
However, those cooler conditions and showers in coming days are largely restricted to the coast, meaning the fire threat is not going to be eased much in the state's baked northern regions.
"The winds are going to fan the fires," Mr Brittain said.
![Beach weather is not going away for long.](/web/20170213085810im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/a/3/h/m/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gubnoe.png/1486975407950.jpg)
The extreme heat has also taken its toll on wildlife, with weekend calls to the WIRES rescue service for wildlife more than a third higher than for the same period last year, said John Grant, a spokesman.
The service received some 934 calls for help for distressed wildlife, with flying foxes, possums and birds among the creatures affected by the heat, he said.
![Farmers battle a fire near Cassilis in the central west of New South Wales.](/web/20170213085810im_/http://www.theage.com.au/content/dam/images/g/u/b/6/6/y/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gubnoe.png/1486975407950.jpg)
For Tuesday, most of coastal NSW has a low-moderate fire threat, while the bulk of the rest of NSW has a "high" rating, according to the Rural Fire Service.
Weatherzone is owned by Fairfax Media, publisher of this website.