MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia reported its hottest day on record for December and it was also the warmest December ever, during a heatwave that began last month and has contined into January, the country's Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday.
Every Australian state and territory was affected by the heatwave at some stage and numerous locations reported their highest daily maximum temperature on record for December or January, with some locations exceeding their previous records by large margins, it said.
The blazing weather comes after an extreme heatwave affected the tropical Queensland coast during late November.
The country is currently in the midst of the Southern Hemisphere summer.
(Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Christian Schmollinger)
