Heat, heat and more heat

Much of NSW will fry under scorching 40-plus temperatures at the weekend but a cool snap next week should provide eventual relief, cutting temperatures by 20 degrees.NSW can expect hot weather on Thursday, with Penrith in Sydney's west forecast to hit 40 degrees celsius, while areas in the far west of the state could see the mercury reach the mid-40s.The scorching temperatures will continue through the weekend, climaxing with 44 temperatures in Sydney's west on Sunday, and temperatures as high as 47 in the state's west.A welcome southerly change will sweep across NSW later on Sunday, bringing an end to the heatwave.Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Jake Phillips said everywhere was going to be hot in NSW."It's just varying degrees of hot," he warned."Quite a lot of places on Saturday and Sunday will be into the 40s, and once you get into the far west, the majority of places will be up around the 40 mark, if not well into the 40s.""On Sunday, that will change for some locations. Parts of the south will start to feel the effect of that cooler change on Sunday, but still the bulk of the state is going to be hotter on Sunday."We'll see a lot of hot temperatures out west, at Ivanhoe or Broken Hill or Tibooburra. They'll be well into the 40s - 45, 46 or even 47."The southerly will blow through Sydney on Sunday night, with temperatures expected to plummet by more than 20 degrees, Mr Phillips said."On Monday, we're still looking at temperatures in the low to mid twenties, and perhaps a couple of showers around," he said."But then there is a second front that comes through late Monday or early Tuesday and that will bring another burst of even cooler air.

"Tuesday and Wednesday look like being well below average, 21 degrees or thereabouts."The cool weather could last until the end of the week, but temperatures will rise again before the end of summer."You can expect that it will warm up again, but whether we'll go to the levels that we've seen is debatable," Mr Phillips said.