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Australia has just endured its driest September known, while multiple states setting new temperature records as well.
In a worrying sign of what's to come under an El Nino weather system, Weatherzone reported that Australia averaged just 4.88mm of rain for the entire month.
It's not only a record for the month but one of the lowest monthly totals on record at all, going back to 1900.
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Weatherzone said Victoria was among the worst-off of the states, with Melbourne enduring its driest September in 168 years.
And on the Murray-Darling Basin rain averaged just 5.6mm for the month, 16 per cent of its normal September tally.
El Nino also took hold in NSW, with a rain-deficient inland contributing to the state's second-driest September on record.
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Meanwhile, Weatherzone said the country averaged 2.43 degrees above the average September mean temperature, the third highest deviation on record behind 2005 and 2013.
NSW led the way with temperatures more than five degrees above average to mark its hottest September on record, while South Australia and the Northern Territory had their second-hottest.
Victoria also sweltered with maximum temperatures 3.77 degrees above the long-term average, almost one degree higher than the previous record of 2.78 degrees in 1944.
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Western Australia saw temperature records for its average mean, maximums, and minimums for the month also smashed.
Weatherzone attributed the surging heat and dryness to the combination of an El Nino and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole, the latter of which looks set to become one of the strongest on record.
Even with rain forecast in the near-term, conditions are likely to remain hot and dry throughout the coming summer.
