On Sundau, Perth reached a maximum posted of 42.9 degrees, the hottest January day on record back to 1994. Indeed, the mercury has only tipped past this figure three other times in 16 years.

Yesterday the heat came back with a vengeance, by 7:20am the temperature had shot past 30 degrees. By mid-afternoon a weak sea breeze tried to hold back the maximum to around 40 degrees, but to no avail - we managed to hit 42.7 degrees, inside the top five hottest days of the last 16 years.

Even with the weak sea breeze, at least the humidity remained low, dust spitting low. The relative humidity barely rose above 10 percent all day, keeping the heat stress levels lower.

Although, with the heat and dry air came the risk of fire and even in Perth, severe fire danger ratings were seen, bordering on extreme at the airport and further inland.

It continues to be a dry one too, Perth hasn't seen any recorded rainfall in around two months now.

Over the next few days cooler changes will bring some respite, especially by Thursday, before we see the easterly winds and heat build up again.