It wasn't much but the rainfall in Maitland this week has definitely been a welcome sight.
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Storm clouds have hung over the city for the past few days - bringing a small amount of rain and a reprieve from the plus-40 degree temperatures.
While it hasn't equated to much on the rain gauge - just 2.4mm for the month up to Thursday afternoon - January has already quadrupled the total rainfall for December when just 0.6mm fell across the entire month.
There is a 40 per cent chance of rain on Saturday and potentially more again next week, but another scorcher is predicted before then with a top of 39 degrees forecast for Friday.
The rest of the country will also be keen for decent downpours after the Bureau of Meteorology announced in its Annual Climate Statement on Thursday that 2019 was the country's warmest and driest year on record.
The country's mean temperature in 2019 was 1.52 degrees above average while the national average rainfall total for the year was 277mm.
Sage Swinton
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
Sage Swinton is a news reporter who was born and bred in the Hunter. She has been with the Newcastle Herald since June 2020, and covers Newcastle council as well as other general news.
