Canberra copped a drenching on Monday as 6.4 millimetres of rain fell between 9am and 6pm.

Weatherzone meteorologist Kim Westcott said about 5.6 millimetres of that fell during a heavy afternoon downpour that intensified after 3.30pm, but more was yet to come.

By 6.30am on Tuesday, Canberra had been drenched in 22.6 millimetres of rain.

The overnight pouring sparked at least 11 calls to the ACT State Emergency Services for help, all for leaky roofs with minor damage.

At the Snowy Mountains, both Perisher and Thredbo were covered in 30 centimetres of snow with another dusting expected on Tuesday.

In Canberra another three to 10 millimetres was forecast to fall on Tuesday and up to six millimetres on Wednesday, potentially bringing the week's total up to 38 millimetres, just shy of the 46 millimetre average for the whole month of August.

The spate of rain comes after a weekend of sunshine, which claimed the warmest day since autumn.

"Last Saturday had the highest temperature since the fourth of May," the Bureau of Meteorology's Sean Carson said.

While the chance of rain is almost definite throughout Tuesday and Wednesday, there's a 60 per cent chance it won't go away until the weekend.

"At this stage the weekend looks pretty good. Temperatures by the end of the weekend should be around 15 degrees," Mr Carson said.

The week's minimum temperature will likely stay within 2 and 5 degrees, and the maximum is set to fluctuate between 10 and 15 degrees.

Tuesday is set to be the coldest with a forecast maximum of 10 degrees.

As for sneaking in some sunrays?

"There won't be a great deal, but we will get some," Mr Carson said.

"There won't be much around [on Tuesday], maybe Wednesday morning… but we might have to wait until Friday to get any lengthy periods of sunshine."

As usual, the showers will be welcomed in some areas more than others.

"It's a nice time to get a drop of rain for the land, particularly for those in the farming community," Mr Carson said.

"Getting rainfall late August is good timing and certainly stimulates growth as we push into spring."

This week's big wet comes as the Canberra Times winter photo competition draws to a close at the end of August.

Entrants have the chance to win in a share of $1000 in prizes. A maximum of three photos per entrant can be submitted as JPEG attachments to photocomp@canberratimes.com.au.

Photographers should include their name, address, phone number, a photo title and description of when and where it was taken.

- With Emma Kelly and Megan Gorrey

Weatherzone is owned by Fairfax Media, publisher of The Canberra Times.