The forecast lows are below zero, and there are even hints of snow in the Canberra air over the next few days; the capital is one place in Australia that when people complain "it's freezing", it probably is.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
So for many Canberrans, winter is a time spent mostly indoors.
But the children at Blue Gum Preschool can be found embracing the conditions, no matter what the weather sends their way.
At the community-based not-for-profit organisation in Dickson, students spend all day Wednesday outdoors, rain, hail or shine.
According to the forecast, next Wednesday it could be as cold as minus 1 degree in the morning, or as warm as 14 degrees in the afternoon. That's a little better than weekend forecasts which, at the time of writing, had Saturday as a cold minus 4 in the morning, and an unpredictable forecast for Sunday, which could even bring rain or some snow to the region.
Education director Michaeli Hillam said the school taught there was no such thing as bad weather, just inappropriate clothing. "If you're a three-year-old that lives in Canberra, how are you ever going to be able to understand or participate in a Canberra winter if as soon as it gets cold you're shut up inside with the heater going, and as soon as it gets warm again you're able to go back outside," she said.
"You never actually experience the outdoors."
Ms Hillam said the Blue Gum philosophy was to treat children as responsible, resilient and resourceful.
When outdoors, they spent their time looking after the campus hens, feeding them and collecting their eggs, working in the vegetable garden, climbing a tree, drawing or playing sport.
But as the preschool runs on an "emergent, negotiated" curriculum, every day is different.
Ms Hillam admitted the children did sometimes feel cold, but they warmed up once they started to play and get involved in activities.
Parents too had raised concerns about the children being outside all day when it was cold. "It's about us educating the parents to move from the notion that they need to be inside because they're little and we need to protect them, to that they're actually competent and capable, so let's see what they can actually do and what they can learn from being outside in winter," Ms Hillam said.
Canberrans hoping to spend time outside at the weekend could need a back-up plan, as Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sean Carson said the weather would be hard to forecast. Cold air from the south will create a low pressure system off the coast, which will then send moisture inland. It could mean snow along the Great Dividing Range - but it would more likely be somewhere such as Orange or Armidale than in Canberra. The prediction of showers for Canberra on Sunday was a "50-50" call.
