IT BEGINS: Sutherland high school teacher Lou Pagano and his students catch the first summer sunrise at Coledale Beach. Picture: Kirk Gilmour.
DECEMBER 5: Ebony Larkin of Kiama Downs shields herself from the windy weather at Bombo Beach. Picture: Sylvia Liber.
DECEMBER 12: Diane Thompson soaks up the morning warmth at Little Lake, Barrack Point. Picture: Sylvia Liber
DECEMBER 13 - Opening of the new Funnel Web ride at Jamberoo Recreation Park. Picture: Sylvia Liber.
DECEMBER 15: Jo Helson and Kerry Perretta soak up the warmth after surf ski training at Barrack Point. Picture: Sylvia Liber
DECEMBER 20: An afternoon storm brewing at Wollongong lighthouse. Picture: Orlando Chiodo
DECEMBER 29: There were no vacancies at Easts Beach Caravan Park, Kiama over the Christmas period. Picture: Andy Zakeli
DECEMBER 31: Wollongong City Lifeguard Dillon Ruiz hits the surf at Austinmer beach to rescue a boy who got stuck in a rip when he drifted outside the flags. Picture: Kirk Gilmour
JANUARY 6: Port Kembla beach is temporarily closed after a shark sighting. Picture: Andy Zakeli
JANUARY 7: Mount Kembla Rural Fire Service deputy captain Ben Jacobsen moves the fire danger sign on Cordeaux Rd to Catastrophic in preparation for the heat wave. Picture: Kirk Gilmour.
JANUARY 8: Temperatures hit extreme levels at the Illawarra Regional Airport. Picture: Dave Tease
JANUARY 6: Brittany Hadfield and Dia Djukic, both 14, took their own pool to Wollongong City Beach. Picture: Andy Zakeli
JANUARY 8: Bowral’s Sarah Byden was stranded on the blistering hot sand with only a beach towel for foot protection as the temperature hits 42 degrees at Stanwell Park beach. Picture: Kirk Gilmour.
JANUARY 8: Symbio head keeper Kylie Elliott cools down the emus as the temperature climbs. Picture: Kirk Gilmour
JANUARY 16: Lauren and Matt Thompson with two-year-old Kayden and pup Narlou. Picture: Sylvia Liber
JANUARY 18: Danielle Barnes from Bellingen cools down at Illawarra Folk Festival. Picture: Kirk Gilmour
JANUARY 18: Larissa Peloquin from Bulli cools down at Illawarra Folk Festival. Picture: Kirk Gilmour
JANUARY 22: Sand sculptor Steve Machell, from Byron Bay, making a sculpture of a turtle at North Wollongong Beach as a thunder storm rolls in. Picture: Adam McLean
JANUARY 22: A thunder storm rolls in at North Wollongong Beach. Picture: Adam McLean
JANUARY 20: Sandra Leonard from WIRES rescues flying fox babies after their mothers died in the heatwave. Picture: Greg Totman
JANUARY 27: Bluebell, Jasmine, Mark and Candy Hong, from Sydney, get wet as huge surf pounds Wollongong Harbour break wall. Picture: Sylvia Liber
JANUARY 29: Huge swells at Wollongong Harbour. Picture: Rob Peet
JANUARY 29: The flooded Illawarra Hwy at Albion Park. Picture: Andy Zakeli
FEBRUARY 4: A fisherman tries his luck at Lake Illawarra after four days of overcast and rainy conditions. Picture: Kirk Gilmour
FEBRUARY 12: Melbourne’s Narelle Crux and Lucy Healy ride their mascot Snappy the Shark on their expedition to swim in all the rock and sea pools of the Illawarra. Picture: Kirk Gilmour
FEBRUARY 24: Houses at the top of the hill in Minnamurra. Picture: Dave Tease
FEBRUARY 24: Bele Street resident Paul Cooper standing outside his devastated home after the Kiama tornados. Picture Sylvia Liber
FEBRUARY 26: Scenes of the aftermath of the freak storm that swept through Kiama, Albion Park, Jerarra and Seven Mile Beach. Picture: Andy Zakeli
It was a summer of extremes, from January’s catastrophic fire danger and hottest day on record to torrential rain and the family of destructive tornados that ripped through the region’s south.
And while the final days of the season may have felt cool, the experts say we’ve just experienced the hottest Australian summer on record.
GALLERY: Autumn starts with a splash
Summer gone as swimmers feel the chill
Bureau of Meteorology data, released today, shows the average summer temperature across the nation was 28.6 degrees - 1.1 degrees above normal and exceeding the previous 1997-98 record by more than 0.1 degrees.
A new average maximum temperature record was set at 35.7 degrees - 1.4 degrees above normal and 0.2 degrees above the summer 1982-83 record.
The highest temperatures were in the first three weeks of January, when a run of scorching days caused Illawarra cafes to close, weekend sports to be cancelled and left many of the region’s vulnerable suffering heat stroke.
The highest temperature recorded was at South Australian town Moomba, at 49.6 degrees.
Of 112 BOM weather stations nationwide, 14 had their hottest day on record over summer.
That included the stations at Kiama and Albion Park, where temperatures over 45 degrees on January 18 broke the previous records set on New Year’s Day 2006.
The highest temperature at Bellambi was 42.4, 1.3 degrees lower than the record.
Records were also broken for the number of consecutive days with average maximum temperatures over 39 degrees nationwide.
The run of seven days between January 2-8 almost doubled the previous record of four consecutive days in 1973.
It was a dry summer for most of Australia with national rainfall was at its lowest since 2004-05.
However, there was plenty of heavy rain on the country’s east coast, including the Illawarra.
Christmas Day was the region's wettest in December and heavy showers at the end of January pushed up monthly totals.
Last Sunday, the day Kiama was hit by wild tornados, had the highest rainfall for February.
The bureau says this summer’s heat follows a pattern of extremely hot summers in various parts of the world over the past few years.
While the final numbers for the Southern Hemisphere summer will not be confirmed until mid-March, it was the hottest December on record for land areas of the Southern Hemisphere, followed by the hottest January.
Large parts of southern Africa recorded their hottest January on record.
Hotter temperatures were also recorded in large parts of Argentina, Chile and Brazil, while temperatures in parts of Patagonia were more than 4°C above normal in January.
Temperatures and rainfall
BELLAMBI
December
- Average max temp: 23.5
- Highest temp: 30.6 (Dec 20)
- Total rainfall: 34.2mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 14.8mm (Dec 25)
January
- Average max temp: 25.7
- Highest temp: 42.4 (Jan 18)
- Total rainfall: 241mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 139mm (Jan 28)
February
- Average max temp: 23.7
- Highest temp: 26.1 (Feb 7)
- Total rainfall: 177.8mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 49.2mm (Feb 24)
ALBION PARK
December
- Average max temp: 25.7
- Highest temp: 37.9 (Dec 1)
- Total rainfall: 30.2mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 14.2mm (Dec 25)
January
- Average max temp: 27.6
- Highest temp: 45.8 (Jan 18)
- Total rainfall: 167.2mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 122mm (Jan 29)
February
- Average max temp: 25.5
- Highest temp: 28.9 (Feb 7)
- Total rainfall: 168mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 96mm (Feb 24)
KIAMA
December
- Average max temp: 23.6
- Highest temp: 32 (Dec 1)
- Total rainfall: 53.8mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 26.6m (Dec 25)
January
- Average max temp: 25.8
- Highest temp: 45 (Jan 18)
- Total rainfall: 170.8mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 135mm (Jan 29)
February
- Average max temp: 23.9
- Highest temp: 26.8 (Feb 21)
- Total rainfall: 153.2mm
- Highest daily rainfall: 71.8 (Feb 24)