THE TIDE has turned in Newcastle, with a cool change bringing blustering winds and causing scorching hot temperatures to plummet.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) data showed it was a searing 39.4 degrees at the Nobbys weather station at 3.10pm on January 26.
It was the hottest temperature recorded there since November 2020.
Just two hours later, just after 5pm, it had dropped to a balmy 24.8 degrees, as the coast-to-coast heatwave was swept off the NSW shoreline.
The change swept in quickly, with the temperature cooling off by 10 degrees in one hour to about 4.30pm.
Williamtown - where the city's airport is - sweltered through the afternoon, reaching 41.7 degrees just before 4pm.
By 5pm, it was back in the 20s.
Cessnock, Maitland, Cooranbong and Singleton all recorded temperatures hotter than 40 degrees on Friday afternoon before relief arrived.
Newcastle had been under a heatwave warning issued by the BOM, which included Australia Day, and an extreme fire danger rating and fire weather warning saw the Greater Hunter under a total fire ban on Friday.
The fire danger rating will drop back to moderate on Saturday, though the BOM's heatwave warning remained valid for the Hunter until Sunday, January 28, as at Friday afternoon.
Nobbys weather station recorded a high of 39.2 degrees on Thursday, January 25. Last January, there was not a single day that cracked into the 30s.
Beaches in Newcastle were packed early in the day - while others chose to stay indoors in air conditioning - which kept life savers on their toes, though the afternoon brought windy and blustery conditions along the coast.
The BOM warned Newcastle could see a thunderstorm later this evening.
Saturday has a top temperature of just 26 degrees forecast in Newcastle, and 28 on Sunday.
Elsewhere in Australia had it much worse than Newcastle - Birsville, on the edge of the Simpson Desert, had a near-record high day of 49.4 degrees on Thursday, by notching the second hottest overnight temperature in Australia on record.
- With AAP
