(4) Comparison to normal climate for the area: Many areas in central South Australia, northern Victoria and inland New South Wales regularly experience temperatures over 40°C (104°F) for one, two or three consecutive days, sometimes more, during the summer months. During the heat wave, however, many of these regions experienced temperatures over 40°C (104°F) for twice as long or more, on average, than is normal for that time of year. Coastal regions and the ACT experienced slightly lower temperatures; however, these were still above average and lasted for a prolonged period. While coastal regions may have experienced shorter periods of heat wave, for the time that they did experience temperatures over 35°C (95°F), they mostly reached the top 3, top 5 or top 10 all-time temperature records for a number of days. An excellent example of this is Melbourne, which had only 3 consecutive days over 43°C (109°F), yet when combined with the record set on 7 February, now has recorded three of its five (being 1st, 3rd and 5th) all-time record high temperatures. The heat wave was perhaps most extreme in northern and eastern Tasmania, where 7 of the 8 highest temperatures ever recorded in Tasmania occurred during the heat wave. A chart of the variation of maximum and minimum daily temperatures, through the year, for Melbourne was prepared from observations between May 1855 and August 2006. For early February, this shows a mean daily maximum temperature of 26°C (79°F) with the 75th percentile temperature being about 31°C (88°F).