Only a week after Canberra awoke to a snowy winter wonderland, the city recorded its warmest July night on record and its warmest day in 41 years.
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Canberrans could be forgiven for thinking winter had come and gone on Wednesday as Canberra Airport recorded a minimum of 11.1 degrees overnight, hitting the low around 7am.
The overnight temperature smashed the average night time low of minus 0.1 degrees, and beat the previous record of 10.5 degrees, recorded on July 29, 1975.
The warm night came after a top of 18.8 degrees on Tuesday, Canberra's second warmest July day ever and more than seven degrees above the monthly average.
It fell just short of the highest daytime temperature for July of 19.7 degrees, which also occurred back on July 29, 1975.
Neale Fraser, senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the warm spell was extremely rare for this time of year.
"Tuesday was only the fifth time the day temperature has got to 18 degrees since our records began in 1939," Mr Fraser said.
"There were three occasions in 1975 when the day reached 18 degrees, which is the year of the previous record, then it got to 18.1 degrees in 2009, then hit 18.8 yesterday."
Other than in 2014, Mr Fraser said the last time a July night had warmed up to double figures was in 1988.
"It is quite interesting that the minimum overnight temperature is now just below the average maximum day temperature [for July]," Mr Fraser said.
He said the unusually warm winter weather was due to warm air coming down from Northern Australia, bringing clouds and moisture.
"Usually it is very dry around this time but right now it is very moist," Mr Fraser said.
"Clouds act as a blanket so it radiates some of that heat back to the ground, even if it is a clear night if the air stays relatively moist."
The combination of cloud and moisture was set to keep temperatures well above the July average for the rest of the working week, but an approaching cold front would make it feel like winter again by the weekend.
Saturday has a forecast low of 4 degrees and a high of 10, before the temperature is tipped to drop below freezing again on Sunday with a low of minus 1 degree.
While Canberrans will likely be adding layers of clothing as the weekend approaches, they should keep their umbrella handy all week.
The Bureau has forecast a high chance of rain on Friday with a medium chance of showers every other day from Thursday to Sunday.
