Canberrans are set to make a splash in the capital's pools this weekend, after summer finally arrived and temperatures are set to rise.
Weather is expected to hit the 30s on Saturday, which Dickson Pool spokesperson Taryn Langdon says is long overdue for the summer season.
"It's been a tough start with all the rain as we've had significantly fewer patrons than normal and the storm activity has forced us to shut down a number of times," Ms Langdon said.
"Staff have been joking it's felt like we had more than three pools in our facility because of all the rainwater."
"We're certainly already seeing a lot of people come back to the pool because of the improved weather which is fantastic, we're all about bringing the community together and providing a nice environment to relax."
Dickson Pool has also completed a number of improvements over the winter and COVID lockdown which Ms Langdon says makes the warmer temperatures even more exciting.
"It's great that we can unveil a bigger and better splash park and an upgraded toddler pool for members of the community to enjoy," Ms Langdon said.
Stella, 7, and Georgia, 5, have already been soaking up the new facilities after school, with mum Jess Rowley saying it's a huge relief to be back in the water.
"The kids love swimming and it always tires them out, so it's fabulous to be spending days here," Ms Rowley said.
"The girls were also very excited when they saw the new water fountain areas so we've loved coming here again, especially after being in lockdown over the past few months."
The wet weather has also prevented kids swimming lessons from going ahead, which Ms Langdon says will be a priority going forward.
"We're very keen to get everyone back in the pools for swimming lessons across the summer to catch up on all the missed time," she said.
"We know lots of kids have missed out over the last few years due to COVID restriction so we've got six weeks of intensive holiday programs coming up."
While we can be excited for the warmer days ahead, Jordan Notara a senior forecaster from the Bureau of Meteorology says this may not be an ongoing trend.
"This period is not a heatwave, even if it's warm for the next fortnight we can't say temperatures will stay the same for the rest of the summer," Mr Notara said.
"We'll still see warmer days because it is the summer but there will likely be cooler than average temperatures in the next coming months to average it out."
"On the other side of the coin it doesn't necessarily have to be above average for us to have summery conditions."
"We can really attribute this to La Nina, where large thick clouds are in the atmosphere but now we're starting to see patches of clearer sky which allows us to get to warmer temperatures."
Mr Notara also noted the need for caution during this period as storms are expected in the short term period and possibly long term for the remainder of the summer.
"Thursday and Friday has no storm risks but Saturday is still likely to have some potential for storms so it's important people keep aware of their safety," Mr Notara added.
Supervisor Matthew Winders has been working at the Dickson Pool throughout the rainy period and says it's great to have warmer weather.
"It hasn't been busy during spring because it's been cold to start off, which has made things very quiet," Mr Winders said.
"However it's heating up so we're getting pretty excited for the next few weeks."
