Beyond the festive season, the bureau expects a sweltering, steamy summer with above-average daytime heat and stewing summer nights.

Most of Australia, including Sydney, has an 80 per cent chance of exceeding median maximum temperatures for the rest of the year, and the trend will continue until at least March.

Sea surface temperatures off Australia’s coast were the highest on record for November, which will continue to influence our weather as warm seas pump extra moisture into the atmosphere, boosting likelihood of rainfall.

Some cloud and wind patterns in the Pacific have recently hinted towards the onset of a rain-summoning La Nina weather cycle, but the bureau expects the El Nino-Southern Oscillation to remain neutral until at least April.

Sydney’s west had its hottest day in 12 months on Tuesday with a 41.6-degree scorcher in Penrith.

Urban planning expert Professor Sebastian Pfautsch, who is researching the impact of extreme heat on playgrounds, measured the heat of gym equipment in Parramatta’s afternoon heat this week and found it was 98 degrees – hot enough to burn a child’s hand.

Western Sydney could face 100 to 160 days above 35 degrees each summer by 2060, Pfautsch predicts in a new paper published in the journal Weather and Climate Extremes.

Australia’s climate has warmed by an average of 1.47 degrees since national records began in 1910, according to the bureau.

Thousands in NSW were left without power on Tuesday after a scorching day and a boisterous southerly buster, which reached at least 74km/h and summoned a spectacular “roll cloud” over Sydney’s coast.

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