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Melbourne burns in heat and smashes all time record

At 3.04pm today, Melbourne made history with its highest maximum temperature since records began back in 1859.

The writing was on the wall by as early as 8.45am this morning, when the mercury flew past 30 degrees. The previous February record of 43.2 set in 1983 was reached by 1pm and the forecast temperature of 44 was broken by 1.30pm. The long standing all time record of 45.6 degrees, set in 1939 was broken by 0.8 of a degree.

If the heat was unbearable, at least the humidity was fairly low, it was as a matter of fact only 5% in the afternoon. A figure normally reserved for the deserts of this world. With the heat also came dust, kicked up by the gusty northerlies before a cooler change moves through.With these very dry and gusty winds, registered around 90km/h in some areas comes the very real threat of bush fires. With the cooler change coming through in the early evening, the complete reversal of wind direction could send any fires rapidly in the opposite direction.

The good news is that the change will drop forecast temperatures tomorrow to the mid to high twenties, almost half that of today. Cooler winds for the start of the week too, enough to break out a sweater.

- Weatherzone

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