King's Canyon — Picture By Gus leonisky

Several regions across Central Australia are set to break weather records today.

In Alice Springs, the record could be broken for the longest consecutive number of January days above 42 degrees Celsius.

Yulara, near Uluru, is also set to break the record for the the most number of January days above 44C degrees.

Weather bureau forecaster Angeline Prasad says the record in Yulara was set in 1998.

"Looking at Yulara's temperature over the last few days, it has been recording over 44C degrees since Friday," she said.

"Today we are expecting temperatures to go over 44C degrees again.

"The heatwave is set to continue for the rest of this week."

Meanwhile, the rim walk at Kings Canyon in Watarrka National Park has been closed for at least a week because of the high temperatures.

Firefighters in Central Australia spent last night back-burning to try to contain a large bushfire about 120 kilometres north-west of Alice Springs.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-01-08/red-centre-heat-records-and-fires/4456544