If you spent the day on Rottnest Island chatting to the quokkas, you got away with a day that peaked at just under 30°C.

But otherwise, the city of Perth and nearby areas had absolute scorchers, with the mercury soaring past the expected maximum in the city and barely dipping even as the famous Freo Doctor kicked in from the southwest.

Temperatures reached:

• 41.9°C in the city
• 43.2°C at Perth Airport, the hottest January day in seven years
• 44.2°C at Pearce, the RAAF base just north of the metro area

As you can see on the map below where pink indicates temps of 44°C or higher, it got even hotter north of the city.

Normally on any given day at this time of year, you'd expect Western Australia's hottest reading to come from the Pilbara or nearby regions.

Today it was the Gascoyne and Central West forecast districts that bore the brunt of the heat:

• Carnarvon recorded its hottest January day in nine years of 46.6°C
• Shark Bay appears to have recorded the state's highest reading with 46.8°C
• Geraldton Airport reached a tar-melting 45.9°C, its hottest January reading in 12 years

You can expect similar conditions for most of the areas mentioned on Thursday.