The Bureau of Meteorology said on Friday that Young and the rest of NSW could experience its hottest February day on record on Saturday and they weren’t wrong with Young beating the record by a mere 0.3 degrees. 

Young’s hottest February day on record was on February 15, 2004 when the town sweltered under the 42 degrees heat. The new record was recorded at 1 pm Saturday afternoon when the mercury hit 42.3 degrees.

Young was expected to have a maximum temperature of 43 degrees both Friday and Saturday with The Bureau of Meteorology forecasting temperatures to reach the mid-40s in many inland areas. 

However, these figures were challenged by those on the Elders weather app which said Young reached a top of 42.8 degrees at 4.40 pm Saturday afternoon.

Relief from the heat arrived around 7 pm Saturday night a southerly change came through Young bringing 0.2 millimeters of rain and a very mild but impressive thunderstorm that left Murringo without power for most of Sunday. The temperature at 11 pm Saturday night had dropped by 16.3 degrees to a very mild 26 degrees according to data from the Bureau of Meteorology.

Acting Bureau of Meteorolgy NSW Regional Director Stephen Lellyett said the cause of heatwave was due to a build-up of heat over the interior of Australia over the last few weeks.

“An approaching front to the south is now dragging this hot air down across New South Wales,” Mr Lellyett said.

“This will lead to widespread severe heatwave conditions.” 

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted Young will have a top of 29 degrees on Tuesday with rain predicted towards the end of the week.

With the heatwave hitting the state the NSW Rural Fire Service declared a Total Fire Ban for the entire state over Saturday and Sunday.

Three fires were caused by lightning strikes on Saturday evening with the NSW Rural Fire Service responding to calls at Grogan, Wallendbeen and the Black Range.

181 ha was burnt at Grogan where 24 NSW Rural Fire Service’s tankers brought the fire under control within two hours. 12 sheep were harmed by the fires and had to be ethuanised due to their injuries.

Wallendbeen had a small fire caused by a lightning strike that was brought under control quickly by the vigilant and fast acting fire services.

In the Black Ranges between Young and Harden a tree was struck by lightning and caused a 1 ha fire. It too was brought under control quickly.