Abnormally warm weather is enticing many Novocastrians to the beach, but a gritty reality awaits them.
Temperatures are up, but so is the wind, the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) warns.
Officially, winter may not be over, but hot and dry conditions have arrived in the Hunter, with the temperature reaching 29 degrees on Wednesday.
Strong and potentially damaging wind accompanied clear sky in parts of the Lower Hunter, including Newcastle and Maitland.
BoM senior meteorologist Jordan Notara said Williamtown airport was averaging gales at 60kmh and over. Wind speed was expected to peak around 90kmh.
The NSW State Emergency Service said the damaging wind in Newcastle, Maitland and the Central Coast was likely to ease late on Wednesday afternoon.
BoM has also released a strong marine wind warning for the Hunter coast.
Mr Notara said warm temperatures were set to persist throughout the week, with potentially more strong wind on Friday.
"A series of cold fronts are moving across the south of the state, so not necessarily pushing cold air into NSW but assisting with dragging warm, dry air from inland Australia into NSW and pushing it across parts of the coastline," Mr Notara said.
Mr Notara said that people planning to go out on the water should monitor BoM wind warnings.
The warm weather is set to stretch into the weekend, with record minimum temperatures expected on Saturday morning.
Mr Notara said Williamtown station was likely to record 15.9 degrees, beating the 2013 high of 15.6 degrees while Tocal station was set to hit 17.2 degrees, surpassing 16.3 degrees in 1988.
He said that while cooler days were possible, abnormally warm temperatures were likely for the next fortnight.
"We would say this is abnormally warm for this time of year, not to the degree that it is breaking a record, but definitely within the top 10 warmest days for August for these sites," Mr Notara said.
