Canberra is set for a burst of record-setting hot weather, as temperatures push into the mid-30s in the first week of November.
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The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting a top of 33 degrees in the capital on Thursday and Friday, the city's warmest days since March 18.
If the forecast holds, it will mark the hottest temperature recorded at this time of year since the bureau started taking observations at Canberra Airport in 2007.
A top of 29 degrees is forecast for Tuesday, while Wednesday is expected to reach 31.
The bureau's NSW/ACT duty forecaster Anita Pyne said while the weather pattern was not unseasonal, the strength of the system at this time of year was unusual.
"We have had hotter temperatures in November - we recorded 36.1 degrees on November 20, 2015 - but it has never been this hot, this early," Ms Pyne said.
She said the hot weather was being caused by a high-pressure system, which would bring north-westerly winds through the capital later in the week.
South-westerly winds are expected to blow through Canberra at the start of the weekend, causing the temperature to drop, albeit slightly, to 28 degrees.
ACT Rural Fire Service chief officer Joe Murphy said the burst of hot weather was an "early warning shot across the bow" for Canberrans ahead of an expected long and dry summer.
Mr Murphy said the fire danger rating was expected to be elevated to "very high" for the first time this bushfire season.
The start of the bushfire season was this year brought forward a month, to September 1, amid an increased risk of extreme events.
The bureau's climate outlook predicted a drier than average summer in 2018, as large parts of eastern Australia continue to struggle through drought conditions.
Canberra received below average rainfall throughout winter, depleting water storage levels across the territory's dam network to below two-thirds of its capacity.
ACT Ambulance Service chief officer Howard Wren said people should be wary of the unseasonally hot weather.
"We are not talking about 40-plus degrees days, but even just a little burst of moderately hot weather can catch people unaware," Mr Wren said.
The early taste of summer will be welcomed at Dickson Pool, which opened for another season last Monday.
“The warm weather certainly lifts the spirits of the whole community here at the Dickson Aquatic Centre," the pool's general manager, Chris Graham, said.
"The shady environment and three outdoor pools make it the perfect place for people to come and cool off. It is also a timely reminder as the warm weather hits for all Canberrans to learn to swim and keep watch around our public pools, lakes and rivers.”
