The mercury is predicted to climb in to the high 30's from Monday on wards, with the forecast to peak at 41 degrees on Wednesday before dwindling back down to a more bearable heat by the week's end.

The Bureau of Meteorology's forecast expects these high temperatures to be accompanied by mostly sunny skies. Although some blustery winds could arrive by Tuesday morning, with speeds set to increase in the day's ahead.

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The warm change comes after a cooler start to the year, which was a very stark difference to the beginning of 2020.

By this time last year, the temperature had already hit a scorching 46.1 degrees in Wagga on January 4. So far, the mercury has peaked at 30.5 degrees recorded on January 3.

The coolest day of this year did not exceed 25.1 degrees on January 4, which was only slightly colder compared to last year on January 5 when the mercury sat at 26 degrees.

In terms of rainfall, Wagga has already exceeded last year's total of 12.8 millimetres in its first nine days with 15.8 millimetres received so far.