A weak ridge of high pressure over the Tasman Sea and a lingering trough over western New South Wales is generating warm and unsettled conditions across the state, bringing the threat of storms to southern parts of the Hunter around Putty Tuesday night.
The unsettled conditions were expected to linger for much of the remainder of the week as temperatures climbed to balmy heights - maximums of as much as 38 degrees on Thursday and 35 degrees Wednesday - under prevailing cloudy conditions and the ongoing chance of showers.
The chance of a possible thunderstorm on Friday will likely give way to a rainy and hot weekend with maximums of 35 degrees again on Saturday.
The Bureau of Meteorology has warned thunderstorms were likely to produce heavy rainfall and possible flash flooding, though mostly in neighbouring regions of the Illawarra, Metropolitan Sydney, and the Central Tablelands to the west.
The humidity level was expected to skyrocket to as much as 80 per cent by Monday, and lingering between 40 and 79 per cent for much of the week.
