Canberrans hoping for more rain to fill the dams will have to wait a bit longer, according to long-range predictions.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a more than 80 per cent chance of conditions being drier than usual over this summer.

While Canberra will get a cooler start to summer on Sunday and early net, the mercury is set to be above the averages of December and January.

Canberra's average temperature for December is 27.5 degrees, while its average minimum is 12.2.

The bureau has also forecast a more than 80 per cent chance of hotter than average maximum and minimum temperatures in the next three months.

Meteorologist at the bureau Gabrielle Woodhouse said while minimum temperatures at the start of the season would drop into single digits, it would be warmer than normal across most of the season.

"There'll be a cool start to summer as a cold front moves through Canberra, and temperatures will be below average at the beginning of summer," Ms Woodhouse said.

"However, over the next month or so, temperatures will be mostly above average."

The last summer was the hottest on record for the national capital, with mean maximum temperatures almost four degrees hotter than the long-term average.

While it was too early to say whether that record could be broken again this summer, Ms Woodhouse said the conditions made it a possibility.

"Last summer a whole bunch of records were broken, there were several days in a row above 40 degrees," she said.

"We'll have to wait and see as we get into this summer, but we're looking at hot and dry conditions."

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The drier than expected conditions set for Canberra this summer will also have an effect on pollen levels across the capital in the warmer months.

While January and February are seen as peak season for grass pollen levels in the ACT, ANU professor Simon Haberle from the Canberra Pollen Count said pollen levels for sufferers would be reduced in the months ahead.

Professor Haberle said the drought had led to a drop in pollen levels.

"Canberra usually experiences a secondary bounce in grass pollen in January after the peak season in October and November," Professor Haberle said.

"Often there's a slight rise in grass pollen in mid to late summer but because of the dry year we've had, grass pollen is below average from what we've seen in previous years."

However, allergy sufferers won't completely in the clear if the dry conditions continue.

Professor Haberle said other factors would still be present around the capital in summer.

"We do see a presence in fungal spores in the air, and that's been prevalent over this spring period and some people might be responding to it," he said.

On a national level, the Bureau of Meteorology said hot and dry conditions would continue for most of the country, driven by an Indian Ocean dipole.