Temperature and rainfall records were smashed in 2019, particularly at year's end when the Blue Mountains endured its hottest and driest December ever.
A scorching top temperature of 37.5 degrees was recorded at the Mount Boyce weather station, Blackheath, on December 21, beating the old record of 37.2 set in February, 2017.
There were nine days over 30 degrees in the month, way above the average of 2.2 days of such heat.
Rainfull was a pitiful 0.4 millimetres for the entire month. December's average is 81 millimetres.
See the full month's details here.
In 2019, there was not a single month where temperatures in the Mountains were lower than average. Ten months recorded hotter than average; the other two months equalled the average (February 23 degrees and August 11).
January and December were the most extreme, with January tipping a 29 degree average, five degrees above the 24 average; last month, December recorded an average of 27 degrees, well over the usual monthly temperatures of 23.
Rainfall was significantly down on previous years. Mount Boyce generally averages 961mm rain annually; last year, just 708mm fell. The worst year in recent history was in 2006 with just 640mm.
The last quarter of 2019 was particularly bad, with just 50.4mm of rain, compared to the average in that period of 249mm.
Both November (26mm) and December (0.4mm) saw the lowest monthly rainfalls since the Bureau of Meterology data began to be recorded in 1989.
And while the hot weather will return with a vengeance tomorrow (37 degrees predicted), salvation may be just around the corner, with a 70 per cent chance of rain - up to 10mm - next Monday and Tuesday.
