The bureau’s checkpoint at the airport peaked at 40.3 degrees at midday before dropping as the afternoon came.

The rest of the Mid North Coast is also experiencing high temperatures. A cooler change is expected in Taree around 7pm where the temperature should drop significantly, while in Wauchope temperatures reached 40.4 degrees with a late evening drop also expected.

Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh said some relief will come tomorrow (January 19) with a drop of 10 degrees expected.

“Thursday will be 10 degrees cooler than Wednesday, with a chance of rain,” he said.

“On Friday there will be some northerly winds crossing the trough towards Port Macquarie, meaning some instability as the trough passes over head.

“This also presents a chance of thunderstorms and late showers. A low of 20 and a high of 31 is expected on Friday.”

Leading into the weekend Port Macquarie will experience some high humidity, caused by a mixture of onshore winds with moisture off the ocean.

“With the troughs they draw in moisture from the tropics meaning a combination of warm and moist air,” Mr McIntosh said.

“Once it showers and thunderstorms establish it will feel a fair bit hotter than it actually is, especially on Friday.

“The trough will move to the North and behind that a high pressure ridge will build, so the winds will start to turn to the South which will reduce temperatures down with some showers around on Saturday, dissipating into Sunday.”

The weekend will be around 28 degrees on both days, but the high humidity will make it feel quite warmer.

Over the weekend the wind will be settled and the ocean swell will be in the three to four foot wave region, with winds switching to the south over the weekend.