Friday's maximum temperature of 20.9 degrees made it its coldest May day in 35 years of records, and its coldest day of any month for 13 years.

Spare a thought for Tennant Creek which saw its coldest May day reaching just 14.6 degrees on Friday.

Katherine will return to "normal" dry season conditions the Bureau of Meteorology has forecast for the week ahead with maximum temperatures of 30-35 degrees and minimums of 12-16 degrees.

More reading: Lily pond rarely dries up but it has now.

In has been a remarkable past 12 months for Katherine with all sorts of records being set, most of them for heat and lack of rain.

The wet season was one of the worst since settlement of the town, its worst since 1951-52.

In the latter half of November last year began a run of more than 40 consecutive days above 40 degrees for Katherine - it's longest ever heatwave.

The previous record at Tindal was only half that, with 20 days in a whole year set back in 2013.

Tindal RAAF had its warmest November night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record.

March temperatures also came close to all-time heat records.

October was also a build-up stinker with a 42.7 degree day recorded at Tindal, the hottest ever October day measured there.

But looking at all records, Katherine claim its record heat of 46.2 degrees on October 29, 1991.

Not forgetting Rabbit Flat of course which recorded 115 days over 39 degrees last year to smash the old record of 106 days at the more famous Marble Bar in Western Australia, which recorded the dubious feat between November 1921 and March 1922.