Canberra has recorded the warmest May in seven years and a meteorologist is predicting the first fortnight of winter to also be warmer than average.
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Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the average maximum temperature in Canberra during May was 17.6 degrees.
"That’s the highest average maximum temperature in seven years and is two degrees higher than the long-term average for May," he said.
Mr Dutschke said when overnight lows were factored in, the May average became 10.1 degrees, which is the highest recorded since 2009. The territory was also drier than usual during May after only 3.6 millimetres of rainfall was recorded before May 27.
“Canberra recorded just 14mm of rainfall during May and that’s a third of the long-term May average of 43mm,” he said. “While Canberra experienced a dry month, there was still more rainfall than the 6.6mm registered in May 2013."
Mr Dutschke said Canberra was unlikely to get “extremely cold” for at least the next fortnight, although there would be “an odd coldish day here and there”, but no colder than it was on Sunday.
“The nights and mornings will be fairly chilly with a few subzero starts and foggy mornings, but the afternoons should warm up to temperatures higher than the June average of 12.3 degrees,” he said.
Canberra recorded the warmest winter on record last year after an average maximum temperature of 14 degrees. It also experienced the wettest winter since 2005, after 127.8mm of rain was recorded between June and August.
So far there had been little snowfall on the peaks, Mr Dutschke said, after only a small amount was recorded at the highest points on Sunday, including next to nothing at the ski resorts.
But he said there was a good chance of snow for the official Queen's Birthday opening weekend.
“There’s likely to be fresh snow on the mountains this weekend, but the resorts will still have to rely on man-made snow,” he said. “The good news for the resorts, however, is that there are fairly good conditions for snowmaking at the moment with overnight temperatures remaining low.”
