Australia's blistering heat set records for December: weather bureau

Climbers can be seen walking up the arch of the Sydney Harbour Bridge behind the roof of the Sydney Opera House on a hot summer day in Australia, October 30, 2017. REUTERS/David Gray/Files

MELBOURNE (Reuters) - Australia reported its hottest day on record for December and it was also the warmest December ever, during a heatwave that began last month and has contined into January, the country's Bureau of Meteorology said on Thursday.

Every Australian state and territory was affected by the heatwave at some stage and numerous locations reported their highest daily maximum temperature on record for December or January, with some locations exceeding their previous records by large margins, it said.

The blazing weather comes after an extreme heatwave affected the tropical Queensland coast during late November.

The country is currently in the midst of the Southern Hemisphere summer.

(Reporting by Melanie Burton; editing by Christian Schmollinger)