Canberra is in store for a smoky Christmas Day this year, as the haze that has engulfed the capital in recent weeks shows no signs of abating.
The smoke haze from bushfires to Canberra's east, including an 80 kilometre mega fire on the South Coast, will linger over the ACT for the rest of the week, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
The ACT Emergency Services Agency said the smoke haze is expected "to be our normal for a while now" and will last until the new year.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Abrar Shabren said the haze would linger during the morning on Christmas Day.
"The smoke will be quite persistent for the next few days leading up to Christmas and the latter part of the week as well," Mr Shabren said.
"Christmas Day will be in the low to mid 30s and it will be a warm day, and the smoke haze will continue as the fires are burning."
After an expected top of 29 degrees and smoke haze on Christmas Eve, the Christmas Day forecast for Canberra tips the mercury to reach a top of 32 degrees. It should be a partly cloudy day.
The bureau says there could be a slight chance of rain in the afternoon and the evening with some light winds.
The sunny and smoky weather is expected to continue into Boxing Day, where a top of 35 degrees is expected with a low of 15.
Mr Shabren said strong easterly winds were expected later in the week, leading to the smoke haze being exacerbating.
While easterly winds are bringing in a majority of the smoke, recent days have seen southerly winds bring through smoke from fires burning in Victoria.
"It will mostly come during the later afternoon where it has the sea breeze coming in, and then we'll see a lot more smoke during that time," he said.
Mr Shabren said a lack of westerly winds forecast means the smoke won't be able to be pushed out to sea.
Despite a slight chance of rain for later in the week, the bureau said it would not be enough to ease the smoke or to create more favourable conditions for firefighters.
"It will suppress some of the smoke, but it's not any significant rainfall," Mr Shabren said. "Towards the northern parts of the ACT, [the rain] will be isolated and patchy, and it won't be anything widespread."
After last weekend's heatwave, the extreme temperatures would return to the ACT again later in the week.
A high of 37 is forecast for Friday, before rising to 39 on Saturday and reaching into the 40s on Sunday.
Mr Shabren said the hot weather was driven by a high pressure system moving across NSW and ACT, bringing with it hot and dry air from central Australia.
"We'll start to see dry conditions and warm temperatures start to increase in the latter part of the week and into early next week," he said.
