In the lead up to New Year's Day on Monday, Friday will be wet, most likely in the late afternoon, with Saturday to have the same conditions. We can expect a top of 29 to 30 degrees.

Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard said the rain will clear away by New Year's Eve and a top of 28 degrees is forecast.

"By midnight on New Year's Eve, winds should be light at that time so there should be no problems with fireworks or anything like that," Mr Pippard said.

"For New Year's Day, it's looking to be a mostly clear day for Canberra, looking at a fairly sunny day with a top of 29 degrees.

"It's a pretty stock-standard day."

For the first week of 2018, Mr Pippard said it looked "fairly benign" with temperatures forecasted to hover around the average for most of the week.

"The average January day is 28 degrees for Canberra and it looks like most days in the first week of the new year will be very close to that," he said.

"But there's some rainfall predicted as well, we could see a shower or storm on Tuesday, most likely in the afternoon and a possible shower on Wednesday at this stage.

"Otherwise it's looking to be a mostly sunny, clear skies and fairly dry start to the new year."

The official Canberra New Year's celebrations start from 7pm in Civic Square with Electronic duo Art Vs Science headlining an evening of live music.