Australia’s Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has revealed the country endured its hottest month on record in January, with sweltering conditions expected to persist through April.

The heatwave, which saw temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius for several days straight in some areas, was mainly due to a high pressure system off the southeast coast that blocked cooler air from coming in, the BoM said, releasing its climate summary for January.

Reuters Newsagency reports it described the widespread heatwave conditions and daily extremes as “unprecedented”.

A delayed monsoon also kept cooler, moist air from coming in from the north, and a warming trend that has pushed Australian temperatures up by more than 1.0°C in the last 100 years also contributed to the heat, said Dr Andrew Watkins, a senior climatologist at the BoM.

Scorching weather last month triggered power outages, mostly due to coal-fired power stations failing in the heat, in some areas and sent electricity prices soaring, while bushfires have destroyed homes in the southern island state of Tasmania.

“For maximum temperatures, for minimum temperatures and for mean temperatures, it’s not only been our hottest January on record, it’s actually been our hottest month on record, and those records go back to 1910,” Dr Watkins said in a video on the bureau’s website.

“We’ve also seen records in many states set including places like Victoria where Swan Hill and Kerang got up over 47.5°C,” Dr Watkins said.

He added that Borrona Downs in north-west NSW broke the record for hottest minimum temperature, registering one night at 36.6°C.

“Odds are favouring that heat continuing at least through February into March and April,” he said.

The mean temperature for January across the country exceeded 30°C, the bureau said.

The two most populous states, New South Wales and Victoria, recorded their warmest average, low and high temperatures for January.

At the same time, NSW suffered one of the driest Januarys on record, while Victoria had less than 20 per cent of its average January rainfall.

Tasmania, which depends on hydropower, experienced its driest January on record with numerous serious bushfires ravaging the state.

Western Australia had its driest January since 2005.

The BoM said that the west coast faces hot, dry weather over the next three months, which will dent the outlook for wheat production in the world’s fourth-largest exporter.