Temperatures are expected to lift above 30 degrees over the coming week. 

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster James Taylor said Warrnambool had good reason to believe summer had been colder, with the mercury showing a degree below the December average at 21 degrees. 

“The south-west coast has had a very cold start to summer,” Mr Taylor said. “Warrnambool was one of a few places around the state below the average, with other places one or two degrees above the average. 

“We’ve had some cool pressure systems move through Victoria and the coastal areas have been most impacted.” 

Mr Taylor said today would be “mostly mild and up to 27 degrees for Warrnambool”. 

A cool trough on the weekend will dampen hopes of sunshine, possibly even bringing rain tomorrow before a heatwave sweeping the state next week. 

“We’re forecasting 35 degrees on Tuesday and 29 degrees on Wednesday,” Mr Taylor said. 

“Thursday is going to be good and we’ll see things pushing into the mid 30s.

“It really depends on the timing of sea breezes.” 

The hot days will also stoke fire fears, with the majority of vegetation and grassland in the south-west still green. 

“After a week like that you can imagine that most things will be tinder dry,” Mr Taylor said. 

But forecasters aren’t expecting the heatwave to be joined by any strong winds.