The Illawarra has endured yet another sticky, stifling night of summer, with the temperature not dipping below 24 degrees in the city all night.
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In Wollongong, the mercury dipped to the mid-20s at 1am before jumping back up to 30 degrees at 3.30am and just under 34 degrees at 7am.
In Albion Park the temperature dropped to a low of just under 23 degrees at 3am before jumping back over 30 degrees at 4.52am and sitting at just over 33 degrees at 7am.
The overnight temperature observations made for some uncomfortable reading, and explain why many residents would have tossed and turned into the early hours.
Sydneysiders also experienced an uncomfortable night with the temperature at Sydney's Observatory Hill still sitting at 32.3 degrees at 10pm on Tuesday.
An hour later, the city hit its minimum overnight temperature of 28.1 degrees, before it began climbing again, cracking 30 degrees at midnight.
"We have a very warm air mass over us at the moment and some light to moderate winds that helped to keep that warm temperature at the surface," said Miranda Langton, a duty forecaster with the Bureau of Meteorology.
"It's been hot across the whole of NSW. Cobar is still sitting on 31 degrees [just before 6am on Wednesday]. Even somewhere like Thredbo is about 16 degrees." The average minimum temperature for Thredbo's top station for January is 6.7 degrees.
Wollongong and Albion Park are forecast to reach a maximum of 34 degrees on Wednesday, while Kiama and Nowra are tipped to hit 33 degrees and Bowral 35 degrees.
But bleary-eyed residents can take solace in the fact that a cool change is slowly moving its way up the NSW coast.
Ms Langton said that cool change should move through on Wednesday morning, with a medium chance of showers in the the early afternoon and late evening, and the chance of a thunderstorm in the early afternoon.
The Rural Fire Service has declared a total fire ban on Wednesday for the Illawarra/Shoalhaven, Greater Hunter, Greater Sydney, Southern Ranges, Central Ranges and Southern Slopes regions of NSW.
On Tuesday, one home was destroyed by a fast-moving and out-of-control bushfire near Canberra, on a day when temperatures soared across the state.
The blaze, referred to as the Currandooley fire, also threatened homes at Boro and Mount Fairy, near Tarago.
Forecast temperatures for the Illawarra and South Coast
- Wollongong – 34
- Albion Park – 34
- Kiama – 33
- Nowra – 33
- Bowral – 35
- Huskisson – 31