Some northern parts of Western Australia will experience an extreme heatwave this week as temperatures climb into the mid forties for a number of days. With the monsoon trough inactive over northern Australia and the sun near its southernmost point in our sky, there is ample opportunity for temperatures to soar in Australia's tropics. Even for one of the hottest parts of the country, maximum temperatures will be 2-4 degrees above average in parts of the Kimberley and Pilbara during the next few days. Marble Bar is forecast to reach 44-45 degrees between Wednesday and Sunday, with overnight temperatures only dropping to the high twenties. Kununurra is expected to reach 43 degrees during the middle of this week, which is close to the site's December record of 45.3 degrees from 2004. Even Darwin is feeling the heat. As of 9am on Tuesday, the city's average maximum temperature so far this month was 34.2 degrees. This is nearly two degrees warmer than usual for this time of year and makes this its warmest start to December in five years. Darwin is forecast to reach 34-35 degrees during the rest of this week, continuing its run of warm December weather.