
With temperatures climbing into the 30s, flowers blooming and even vegetable gardens sprouting early, you'd be forgiven for thinking the seasons have reversed.
While Canberra is not even a few weeks into autumn, a warm burst across the capital has seen almost spring or summer-like conditions in recent days.
The warm weather is expected to continue throughout the week, while some cold mornings, with temperatures expected to drop into single digits, are also forecast later on.
Forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology Helen Kirkup said the recent warm spell was one of summer's "last hurrahs".
"Thursday is looking at about three to four degrees above the average, while Friday will be four to five degrees above average," Ms Kirkup said.
"This is a slight blip on what we'd normally expect at the time of year.
"Autumn is the transition season so there's still a bit of summer weather coming through."
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The warm weather has been driven by a cold front that has been moving across the south-east of Australia.
The front has brought with it northerly winds, which has led to warmer conditions.
"Ahead of the cold front you do get these winds that have been closer to tropics," Ms Kirkup said.
"Once that change goes through, there'll be a change in wind direction which will bring colder air.
"The warm air ahead of the cold front will lead to warm overnight temperatures for this time of year, but the cold air behind it will bring it back down again into single digits."
While Tuesday is expected to see a high of 23 degrees, the rest of the week in Canberra will be warmer.
A maximum of 26 is forecast for Wednesday, before the mercury reaches a high of 30 degrees on Thursday and Friday.
The minimum is expected to drop to only 15 degrees on Friday.
Temperatures will then decrease to 27 on Saturday and 24 on Sunday.
The start of next week will bring more typical autumn conditions with a low of 9 degrees and a top of 21.
No rain is forecast throughout the week for Canberra, although Ms Kirkup said areas of the NSW South Coast could see some showers.
While the warm burst is expected to last several days, it may not be the last in the early stages of autumn.
"It's a late burst of summer, but that's not to say it's the last one," Ms Kirkup said.
"We do have a couple of blips of warm weather, we've had some in April before."