Summer refuses to start. The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of thunderstorms to the east and west of Canberra and heavy rain in the capital itself.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The forecast for Thursday is: "High chance of showers, becoming less likely later tonight. The chance of a thunderstorm, possibly severe."
The chance of rain and thunder continues into Friday with the weather brightening at the weekend.
This week's rain follows last week's coldness when snow fell at the Thredbo and Perisher resorts.
And it follows a wet January.
But despite the damp impression, January was nowhere near the wettest on record. That would be 2013 when 218 millimetres fell in the month, nearly three times the amount of rain that fell this January
Compare that year's January with this year's when there was 81 millimetres of rain measured at Canberra airport, with much of it on January 5.
And even that early January downpour was a drop in the ocean compared with March 15, 1989, when 126 millimetres fell, more than double this month's total rainfall.
One fallout of continued rain is that potholes are likely to reappear.
They are caused when water gets under the surface of a road and the base soil and gravel is washed away, opening the tire-destroying hole in the asphalt.
Potholes can be filled temporarily (as many have been) but another burst of rain makes them reappear quickly.
More permanent fixes need more substantial repairs.
READ MORE:
Last month, the ACT government said it was increasing spending on road maintenance to $153 million over four years.
Complaints about potholes have risen steeply in recent years, though it isn't clear how much of the rise is because of more potholes or about more people noticing potholes because they became the hot topic of conversation.
Scientists do not blame the current wetness specifically on global warming, though they do not doubt that it is happening.
The recent wet spells have been caused by a combination of two big events: the third La Nina in a row and the negative Indian Ocean Dipole.
In other words, differences in temperature in different parts of the Indian and Pacific Oceans lead to air being sucked up into the atmosphere and being deposited as rain over Australia.
We've made it a whole lot easier for you to have your say. Our new comment platform requires only one log-in to access articles and to join the discussion on The Canberra Times website. Find out how to register so you can enjoy civil, friendly and engaging discussions. See our moderation policy here.