The city's coldest morning so far this month was not too far off a frost and the hottest day of the month - 30.6 degrees, recorded last Tuesday, December 21 - was well down on the temperatures from the previous two Decembers.

That includes the summer of bushfires and choking smoke in 2019-20, but also the much more mild summer that followed in 2020-21.

FLASHBACK TO 2019: Thirty degrees by 10am as city swelters through a heatwave

Bathurst kicked off December last year with a bang when the city recorded 36.8 degrees.

It could have been ominous, but it proved to be the hottest temperature of the entire summer that followed: the top the next month was 35 degrees and then the February got to only 30.2 degrees.

In December 2019, by contrast, Bathurst had 22 days over 30 degrees and a hottest day of 40.9 degrees (on December 21).

It was declared the city's hottest December on record.

FLASHBACK TO 2020: Chifley Dam water level finally back above 30 per cent

With the end of December 2021 now in sight, Bathurst has had only two days over 30 degrees and has had seven minimums below 10 degrees, including just three degrees on Sunday, December 12.

FLASHBACK TO JUNE 2021: Snow across the Bathurst region following good overnight falls

The city has had an official 72 millimetres for the month, compared with the long-term average of 65mm, and that has come after an extraordinarily wet November, including an official 70mm recorded in one 24-hour period.

Around the region, Orange's hottest day so far this summer was 28.1 (on December 18) and Dubbo's was 34.3 (on December 3).