It was the second straight day over 40 degrees and stretched the November heat wave to 14 days while strong winds and a little rain blew across the city late last night.

It was still 30 degrees at midnight Thursday, with the temperature dropping to 21 degrees at 5am before skyrocketing back to 31 degrees just before 9am for the start of the working day.

Once again heavy cloud and dust kept the temperature below the forecast 42 degrees while giving the Riverina a hazy red sky.

The wild weather hit mid-afternoon as wind gusts hit almost 100kmh, putting firefighters on alert and while rain threatened throughout the day barely a millimetre reached the ground.

The weekend will see temperatures closer to 30 degrees before a cool change drops the mercury further on Monday and Tuesday.

Elsewhere, there was no difference with several Riverina centres sweating through another day of plus-40 degrees.

Narrandera reached 42 degrees, Griffith 41 and Cootamundra and Gundagai both briefly broke 40 while Tumbarumba residents were a little more comfortable with a 32-degree day.