So far this summer in North East Victoria has been very dry and notably warmer than usual.

Wednesday's maximum temperature topped the 40 degree mark and places such as Wangaratta and other major towns have recorded 11 or 12 days of over 40 degrees so far this summer.

This compares with 15 days of over 40 degrees at Mildura and Swan Hill.

Mean maximum temperatures at Wangaratta and at other major towns were around 33 degrees, about 2.5 degrees above normal; while mean minimum temperatures were around 13 degrees about half a degree below normal; this reflecting the harsh dry conditions.

The City of Melbourne has had notably dry conditions after a very wet November and some very hot days of over 40 degrees.

This situation also happened during the summers of 1876-77, 1931-32 and 1960-61.

Significant rain did arrive later in February in those years and the autumn months were decisively wetter than average in Victoria and temperatures a little above normal