Sydneysiders will experience higher air pollution and workers will risk being struck down with heat stroke as a heatwave sets in across NSW.
High temperatures plagued parts of the state including western Sydney on Wednesday as coastal communities were largely spared the swelter.
Penrith reached 39.2 degrees Celsius in the afternoon while Horlsey Park hit 37C.
But country towns bore the brunt of the heat.
Deniliquin in the Riverina reached 44C and Ivanhoe in the central west climbed to 43C.
Similar conditions forecast for Thursday have prompted a warning from NSW Health, citing concerns that pollution from car exhausts and industrial fumes get worse on hot and still days.
In it, Professor Wayne Smith urged parents to plan outdoor play in the morning when ozone levels were lower.
"Ozone can also irritate the lungs of healthy adults, so it is best to avoid any prolonged outdoor exercise," he said.
WorkCover NSW has alerted outdoor workers to the symptoms - nausea, dizziness and collapse - of heat-related illness.
It says rotating tasks to lessen sun exposure and working at cooler times of the day can reduce risks.
The heat is the result of a very slow moving high pressure system sitting in the Tasman sea, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The extreme heat in NSW comes as Melbourne gets set to endure the second day of its longest heatwave for more than 100 years.
The city reached 42.8 on Tuesday and is now set to endure four days in a row of above-40 temperatures after the bureau upgraded today's forecast to 41.
It'll be the first time the city has endured such a heatwave since 1908, when there was a five-day streak above 40C.
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