Canberrans got their money's worth of umbrellas this winter, but they shouldn't rush to put them away.
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The season of blossoms will be wetter than average this year, as we slowly come out of a La Nina event that caused our third wettest winter on record, Weatherzone meteorologist Jacob Cronje said.
"June was a very big rainfall month, when it received 144.2 millimetres, the highest June rainfall ever recorded in Canberra," Mr Cronje said.
"On June 6, when it rained 65.2mm in 24 hours, that was the highest ever June rainfall recorded in one day in Canberra."
Rainfall during the three months was almost twice the season's average of 128mm.
Weatherzone had not yet analysed its data for the maximum temperatures from June to August, but Mr Cronje said night-time lows averaged six degrees – about four degrees warmer than usual.
While spring is unlikely to bring any surprises in terms of temperatures or break records when it comes to rain, there's a 60 per cent chance it will exceed average showers.
Mr Cronje said the wet winter and predicted wet spring was due to a strong La Nina phenomenon.
"During an El Nino which we had earlier this year, higher than usual sea temperatures in the Eastern Pacific drive up moisture in the atmosphere and cause higher temperatures and lower than average rainfall in the southern hemisphere, which made us have a very dry and hot summer," he said.
"Usually after a very strong El Nino event we see the development of a La Nina where the exact opposite happens during winter and spring, where temperatures can fluctuate but importantly we see above average rainfall."
These strong weather events have caused a year of extremes in the region and country.
And it's tipped to be a week of many showers in Canberra as the year-of-extremes progresses into its fourth season.
The Bureau of Meteorology forecast a medium chance of a few sprinkles on Thursday, followed by a high chance of up to 35mm of rain on Friday and a very high chance of up to 40mm on Saturday.
The wet weather is expected to ease over Sunday, Monday and Tuesday.
The rain might feel like winter is still here but the daytime temperatures will show it has gone, with tops between 15 and 18 degrees forecast between Thursday to Tuesday, with Monday the warmest.
But it might take longer for the nights to catch up, as minimum temperatures between two and six degrees are forecast between Thursday and Tuesday.
