IT'S TIME to jump in the pool and perhaps turn on the airconditioner because the region's hot and dry days are not about to let up.
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In Wagga, the city was plunged into warmer and drier-than-normal conditions, with the mercury hovering 4.4 degrees above average throughout October.
"It has been a sustained period of above average temperatures," Wagga weather office technical officer Nigel Smedley said.
The city yesterday ended October with its warmest day of the month, when the temperature hit 35.2 degrees mid-afternoon, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
The temperature fell just shy of the record of 36.3 degrees set on October 13, 2006.
It was a separate story elsewhere in the Riverina, however, with Griffith and Hay rewriting weather history.
Hay notched up its hottest day on October 25 at 39.6 degrees, eclipsing the previous record set in 2006. In Griffith, the temperature gauge boiled over to 39.2 degrees to break the record set last year.
Those holding out for rain relief were sorely disappointed.
In Wagga, for example, rainfall fell short by more than half the monthly average. The city received a drink of 20.4 millimetres - 37.3 millimetres less than the average.
Mr Smedley said a series of slow moving high pressure systems sitting over Wagga was fuelling the hot conditions.
He added that north-westerly winds were not helping by "bringing drier, warmer air from WA over our region".
The Riverina can also expect hotter-than-usual day and night temperatures for the next three months, according to the Bureau's climate outlook.
BOM is predicting a 75 per cent chance Wagga will exceed temperature averages throughout November to January.
Rainfall conditions are predicted to be drier-than-normal, bringing with it increased fire danger.
The forecast for Saturday is a maximum of 26 degrees, 20 degrees for tomorrow, 25 degrees on Monday, before reaching 28 degrees on Tuesday and a top of 32 on Wednesday.