As severe bushfires raged in NSW and Victorians baked under Friday's brutal sun, a new set of official maps shows in stark detail how Australia is growing dramatically hotter and drier.

The charts produced by Agriculture Victoria and based on Bureau of Meteorology data, show a marked rise in maximum temperatures across much of the country in recent years, a trend the government agency's climate experts expect to continue.

But the charts, mapping climatic conditions for the past 109 years and intended as a planning tool for farmers, also offer hope for those suffering under drought conditions that good rainfall years will come again.

Australia has already had its hottest December day on record this week. Victoria will swelter under more record-breaking heat on Friday. Terrible bushfires are raging across NSW, with the danger set to intensify in that state on Saturday when catastrophic conditions are expected.