Ballarat has so far averaged 29.6 degrees for January, with nine days already exceeding 30 degrees throughout the month.

And forecasts for the rest of the week all set for temperatures between 31 and peaking at 37 on Tuesday.

There’s no relief in sight until at least Sunday when a cool change bringing the chance of some showers rolling through, with the temperature set for 25.

The hottest ever January recorded in the city was in 1981 when the temperature averaged 29.1 degrees.

It’s not far off the hottest ever month recorded in the city which not surprisingly was February 1983, the month of the Ash Wednesday bushfires.

The warm weather which has come after an unusually wet December has meant the city is also on track for one of its lowest ever rainfall months.

So far, only 3.8mm has fallen in the gauges and there is no rain on the horizon, with Sunday’s cool change only bringing a 20 per cent chance of less than a millimetre.

One saving grace with the hot weather has been the relatively benign wind conditions which has seen a reduced fire risk over the last few weeks.

Even though temperatures will exceed 30 every day, the CFA has the fire risk as ‘high’ for most of the week, the second lowest risk. However, on Thursday that will increase to very high danger.

Winds are expected to remain moderate, peaking with north-westerly winds averaging just 29km/h on Friday.

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