Top End cooks as Darwin records warmest start to a year in almost 90 years

A delayed start to the wet season has resulted in stifling heat in Darwin amid the city's hottest start to a year since 1935, Weatherzone data has revealed.

Warm nights and high humidity meant Darwin's minimum temperature only fell to a clammy 29.9 degrees overnight on January 1.

The following daytime maximum temperatures of 35.3 degrees on Monday and 35.6 degrees on Tuesday made it the hottest start to a year in almost 90 years.

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January 1 was the city's hottest January morning since 1933. Tuesday was also Darwin's hottest January day in eight years at 35.6 degrees.

While temperatures hitting the high-30s in summer may not be that unusual elsewhere in the country, Darwin's extreme humidity can exacerbate the heat.

Weatherzone said "dew point temperatures in the mid-to-high 20s made it feel about 3 to 6 degrees warmer than it actually was for most of Monday and Tuesday in Darwin".

This meant that Monday's noon temperature of 34.8 degrees actually felt more like 40 degrees.

Darwin residents have sorely missed cooling monsoonal winds and rain.

Australia is experiencing the effects of El Niño. The climate system is known to delay the monsoon, as has been observed this season.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast that Darwin will be hot for the rest of the week.

Showers and thunderstorms are also expected for the Top End.

Weatherzone reported that "the hot and sweaty build-up looks set to continue until at least the middle of January".