Warm days and cold nights are on the way for the ACT, as a high pressure system off the Australian coast keeps Canberra skies clear and winds light.
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While the cold winds of austerity might be blowing from Parliament House following Tuesday's budget, meteorologists said Canberra's weather was likely to be two degrees warmer than average in the coming week.
Weatherzone meteorologist Max Gonzalez said temperatures were forecast to hover around 18-19 degrees until at least Sunday, higher than the monthly average of 16 degrees.
He said the unseasonably warm weather was due to a high pressure system sitting off the south-eastern coast of Australia.
"It's quite slow moving and stubborn. It doesn't want to go anywhere and it's bringing clear skies to most of south-eastern Australia including the ACT and Canberra," he said.
However Canberra's clear blue skies are a two-edged sword for ACT residents, bringing below-average temperatures overnight and in the mornings.
"We're seeing temperatures reaching about zero degrees, warming up tomorrow and over the weekend to about one degree," he said.
"It's a bit colder than the average of three degrees, with the clear skies letting the warm air leave."
Don't get those winter doonas out yet either - Mr Gonzalez said with a 70 per cent likelihood of an El Nino system developing in July, the ACT could be in for a warm winter.
"When it develops we tend to see warmer than average temperatures so we might see a warmer winter than average. But right now it's hard to tell," he said.
Autumn in the capital continued to be stubbornly dry, with only 3.6mm of rain falling over three days during the month of May, well below the monthly average.
Mr Gonzalez said with the dry winds and clear skies there wasn't much rain on the way for the ACT over the next week.
"Usually the average rainfall is 43mm spread over about nine days," he said. "But over the next five to seven days it's looking be dry with that high pressure system keeping the days warm and the skies clear.
"There could be a cold front to sweep through the region about next Tuesday, but again it's just a bit too early to tell."
Snow and high winds were also out of the question for the next week, although Mr Gonzalez said there would probably be some frost and fog.
