A severe weather warning for damaging winds was issued by the Bureau of Meteorology today for southeastern parts of NSW, including the nation's capital, Canberra.

Recently, Canberra has had some warm days, reaching 17 degrees on Friday, and 16 degrees on Sunday 9th. These temperatures are 5 and 4 degrees above the average respectively, with Friday being the joint warmest June day in eight years. This has been due to warm winds pushing heat in from northern parts of Australia.

However, this is about to come to an end with a fast moving front passing over Canberra today. The cold front brings with it showers and a pool of cold air which should limit heating for the final day of the long weekend.

Along with the cold, the front is expected to bring average wind speeds of around 60-70km/h,  and gusts possibly exceeding 90km/h. In Alpine regions we could even see wind speeds of 80-90km/h, gusting 125km/h!

Looking further ahead, the maximum temperatures in Canberra should remain a couple of degrees above-average, at least until the next front moves through on Thursday.  This front should bring colder air through and drop temperatures even further, with minimum temperatures possibly dropping below zero by next weekend.

For more information and advice about these severe weather warnings, check out http://www.bom.gov.au/australia/warnings/index.shtml