Lauren (8) and Alex (5) Walton cool down with a splash in the Rouse Hill town centre fountain.
Zoe Kentwell cooling down at Rouse Hill town centre.
Today’s expected peak temperature of 43C across Sydney is unusual for the eastern suburbs but residents in the west experience similar heat each year.
Julie Evans from the Bureau of Meteorology said there were about three days a year above 40C, on average, in Parramatta and the western suburbs.
‘‘Today’s temperature is not unusual for the western suburbs but it is much more unusual for the city,’’ Ms Evans, a meteorologist, said.
‘‘In the city we usually have the sea breeze on hot days, which cools things down a bit.’’
That cool breeze will be absent today as the city swelters.
There are also plenty of days in western Sydney when the mercury doesn’t quite reach 40C, Ms Evans said.
Since 1939 there have been about 16 days a year above 35C in the west.
Today’s predicted top is not expected to reach the temperature recorded on area's hottest day on record, which was 41.4C, recorded on on January 21, 1975 at a weather station in Seven Hills.
The hottest temperature ever recorded at Observatory Hill was 45.3C, on January 14, 1939.
Ms Evans said if today’s forecast temperature was reached it would be the third hottest day in the city in 150 years of records.