Canberrans were out in force soaking up the sun on Saturday as a balmy 29 degrees offered the territory a taste of summer.
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However, the the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) has issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Canberra and parts of Queanbeyan this evening.
The bureau has warned that, at 5.25 pm, severe thunderstorms were detected on the weather radar near Goobarragandra (east of Tumut) and Tumut. These thunderstorms were moving towards the southeast. They are forecast to affect Tuggeranong by 6.25 pm.
Damaging winds and large hailstones are likely
On Saturday morning, Canberra Aqua Park on Black Mountain Peninsula was full of children and families making the most of the sunny weather.
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Owner Will Yeap said that by 3pm the park had seen 600 happy swimmers float, splash and jump through the inflatable obstacle course.
"It's super busy, if the weather is nice it's all good," he said.
Mr Yeap said in 2020 the park had 2000 bookings for the whole year, however, since the park reopened three weeks ago there have already been 2500 bookings.
The sunny skies are not expected to stick around for Sunday.
BoM senior forecaster Stephen Stefanac said there would be plenty of cloud around but the temperature would remain warm.
"A fairly high risk [for] some showers about Canberra and also a chance of a storm, as well as the possibility of severe storms, but temperature wise it will still be quite warm despite the cloud," he said.
For Sunday a top of 28 is expected with maximum temperatures remaining around 29 degrees for the rest of the week. This comes after a wet start to summer with the wettest November on record at 152.6mm of rainfall for the month.
So far, December has seen 54.8mm of rainfall.
"Generally what we're looking at for Canberra [on Sunday] wind wise, we should see some fresh northwesterly winds," Mr Stefanac said.
"It's also worth noting for the greater region we have a severe weather warning out, it covers the Alps but it also covers parts of the ACT particularly parts of the Brindabellas, but it doesn't include the Canberra Metro areas."
Despite this, he said there was "still potentially some windy conditions in the Canberra Metro [on Sunday]".
A weather warning for damaging winds was issued by the BoM on Saturday for the South West Slopes, Snowy Mountains and the ACT.
It predicted damaging winds averaging 60 to 70 km/h with peak gusts in excess of 90 km/h for parts of the Snowy Mountains above 1500 metres developing during Sunday morning.
For Alpine areas above 1900 metres winds averaging 80 to 90 km/h with peak gusts in excess of 125 km/h were likely for Sunday morning.
The State Emergency Service has advised impacted people should:
- Move vehicles under cover or away from trees.
- Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
- Keep at least eight metres away from fallen power lines or objects that may be energised, such as fences.
- Trees that have been damaged by fire are likely to be more unstable and more likely to fall.
- Report fallen power lines to Evoenergy (131 093) or the provider shown on your power bill.
- Stay vigilant and monitor conditions. Note that the landscape may have changed following bushfires.
- For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 132 500.
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