THE Wimmera could be set for its hottest April day on record on Tuesday.
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The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast temperatures in the mid to high 30s across the region, as a blast of hot air crosses Victoria at the start of the week.
Horsham is tipped to reach 34 degrees, while Nhill is on track for a top of 35, and Warracknabeal residents will see the mercury reach 36.
Temperatures were forecast to creep into the low 30s across the region on Sunday.
The Wimmera recorded only two days with maximum temperatures above 30 degrees in April last year.
Bureau duty forecaster Dean Stewart said the temperatures predicted for next week were fairly unusual for this time of year.
“We’ll have to wait and see just how hot it will get, but it will be close to records for this time of year around parts of the state,” he said.
“Nhill’s highest temperature on record for April is 36.8 degrees set on April 3, 1986.”
Nhill’s average temperature for April is 22.6 degrees.
The town has not recorded an April day with a maximum higher than 31 degrees since 2014, when the mercury reached 36.6 on April 1.
Mr Stewart said a build-up of heat over the centre of Australia was causing the hot spell. “We haven't had any strong fronts come through this autumn really, and that's led to lack of rainfall but also a lack of cold fronts pushing through, which means the centre of the country hasn't had a burst of cold air,” he said.
“Now we're getting northerly winds ahead of a trough on Tuesday, which is bringing down warm air from the centre of the continent.
“So it's a combination of a build-up of heat with high-pressure systems over south-east Australia in the last week or two, and this trough coming and bringing northerly winds ahead of it, which is bringing that hot weather down.”
Mr Stewart said the bureau had tipped cooler conditions for the latter part of the week, with temperatures back in the low to mid-20s by Friday.
“By Thursday and Friday it will be cooler right across the state,” he said.
“There is a good chance this will be the last hot spell before we get into much cooler weather as we move towards winter.”
