A wild southerly has cooled Sydney after the city sweltered through one of its hottest days on record.
The change came through late on Thursday night, quickly dropping temperatures after Sydney reached 37.3 degrees earlier in the day, making it the third hottest October day in 154 years.
Gusty winds coupled with the hot conditions created extreme fire danger for southern parts of the state, including Sydney, the Hunter and Illawarra and Shoalhaven, and forced a total fire ban in most of NSW.
However, the heat was below the forecast record temperature of 39 degrees.
The Bureau of Meteorology's Dimitri Danchuk said on Friday that some areas of Sydney were lashed by winds of more than 70km/h as the cool front moved through.
"A few locations recorded gale force winds," Mr Danchuk told Macquarie Radio Network.
"Most of those locations were near the coast."
An SES spokeswoman said emergency services responded to 15 jobs across the city overnight, mostly for fallen tree branches.
The weather bureau is forecasting Sydney to reach a top of 24 degrees on Friday, with a possible morning shower.
Fire danger remains very high.
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