Fire authorities have made the most of the unusually dry end to autumn to as much triple their hazard-reduction burning program from a year ago before the weather turns cool and more soggy.
With the final May tally to be counted, the Rural Fire Service, the National Parks and Wildlife Service and other agencies had conducted more than 1000 burning activities this autumn compared with 474 a year ago.
"It's three times as much as undertaken this autumn versus last autumn," Ben Shepherd, an RFS inspector, said. "It's been one of the most productive autumns in a number of years."
In March and April alone, the agencies conducted controlled burning on almost 100,000 hectares in the state, or more than half of the 171,000 hectares burnt in total since July 1.
With a day to go before the end of May, Sydney's 7.2 mm rainfall tally was on track to be the fifth driest for the city in more than 150 years of records depending on when Tuesday's rain arrives. The average for May is 120 mm, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Fire crews, though, are expecting conditions to turn wetter soon.
"It looks like that window [for controlled burning] may close very fast with rain on the forecast," Mr Shepherd said, adding falls of 10-20 mm in the Blue Mountains may be enough to halt the burns until spring.
"We have the chance of showers each and every day this week," Tristan Meyers, a meteorologist with Weatherzone said. "Wednesday does look like it could have a few pockets of 20mm of rain."
The bureaus is predicting falls of 8-25 mm for Sydney for both Tuesday and Wednesday.
Periods of extended sunshine should help keep temperatures mild, with tops of 19-20 degrees tipped for most days this week.
Monday's low of 7.3 degrees - the city's coldest May night in 17 years - won't be repeated in the near term, with minimums likely to hover above a more moderate range of 11-14 degrees
The busy burning season, while causing some days of high pollution over the city, had allowed authorities to catch up with longer-term targets for hazard-reduction fires after a couple of damp autumns, the RFS's Mr Shepherd said.
