With summer less than a week away, Canberra is in for its first heatwave of the year this weekend with temperatures set to rise above 30 degrees.
Get the sunscreen ready and book your spot at the local pool as the warm weather kicks off from Thursday.
A top of 30 degrees is expected with a small chance of a shower and possible late afternoon thunderstorm.
The skies will clear on Friday in time for the weekend as we head to a sunny top of 29.
Bureau of Meteorology Helen Kirkup said a heat trough was pushing across the north-west, dragging heat from Central Australia to the east coast, bringing a low-intensity heatwave to the Canberra region.
Ms Kirkup said Canberrans "won't suffer as much" as parts of NSW are set to reach into the 40s. Friday is forecast to peak at 29 degrees, followed by 33 on Saturday and 31 on Sunday.
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However, the respite of a cool change overnight won't arrive.
"One of the issues often is the night-time temperatures don't let people recover," Ms Kirkup said.
The temperature will drop to 16 degrees on Friday night but just 19 degrees on Saturday.
Canberra will be spared the severe heatwave conditions expected to hit the NSW riverina and further west.
"In Canberra the real heat won't be there through the middle of the day ... it will still be warm and windy and on Sunday you should see that south-easterly change during the day," he said.
Bureau meteorologist Dean Narramore said temperatures in some parts of NSW could soar to up to 18 degrees above the monthy average.
"While bursts of hot weather are normal for this time of year as we approach the start of summer, it's the temperatures reaching up to 20 degrees above average and in some locations equalling or exceeding November temperature records, that is making this burst of heat one to watch," he said.
The November average in Canberra is 23 degrees, with the record hottest day 39 degrees.
However Ms Kirkup said it wasn't unusual to see these temperatures as we transition to summer next week.
