The opening week of summer has been a hot and thundery mix in New South Wales and there is more to come. Australia has been locked in a typical summer-like pattern at the beginning of this season, with a broad area of low pressure draped across the country and a belt of high pressure straddling the south. This setup has allowed a pool of hot and stagnant air to sit over New South Wales since last week, causing some areas to endure an early-season heatwave. Northern districts have been most severely impacted by the heatwave, with little respite during the opening days and nights of December. The average temperature during the first six days and nights of the season was about 30 degrees in Gunnedah, more than five above average for this time of year. Maximum temperatures averaged around 40 degrees at Moree and 43 degrees at Mungindi during the first six days of December, which is the hottest six-day spell this early in the warming season for seven years at both locations. Other standouts this week included Lightning Ridge's hottest December day and night in at least 19 years and Bourke's earliest 45 degree December day since at least 1997. Areas further south experienced pulses of hot weather during the last week too, although it wasn't as persistent. Singleton went from a near-average top of 29 degrees on Saturday to a scorching 41 degrees on Monday. The combination of heat, a trough and abundant moisture in the atmosphere has also provided the key ingredients for daily storms, some of which became severe. The northeast has been targeted by daily storms for more then ten consecutive days. Supercell thunderstorms produced huge hailstones and damaging winds in the region late last week and today, there were reports that lightning killed a man at Mount Warning. Looking further ahead, the rest of summer is expected to continue the trend with conditions remaining hotter and stormier than usual. If you haven't already done so, make sure you have a plan in place to cope with these types of dangerous weather before they arise.