Wild winds accompany Canberra cold snap - Sydney Morning Herald

Hot to cold ... high winds have brought a temporary cold snap at the start of Canberra's summer. Photo: Hamish Boland-Rudder

It's going to get worse before it gets better - the high winds in Canberra likely to continue for the next couple of hours before easing somewhat later in the afternoon.

The ACT State Emergency Service has received at least 26 calls for help this morning due to the strong winds, with impacted areas including Belconnen, Kambah and Weston Creek.

Three houses and some vehicles have sustained damage.

A snow picture taken on December 5 at Thredbo. Photo: @ThredboResort on Twitter

Meantime, to the south Canberra the Snowy Mountains received a dusting of snow overnight.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for damaging winds in ACT this morning, but meteorologist Rebecca Kamitakahara said Canberra would not be hit by winds at the maximum speeds predicted, with higher areas including the Southern Tablelands more likely to feel the full impact of the weather.

The strongest recorded gusts in Canberra this morning have been 60km per hour.

"In the warning we're forecasting winds of mean speed 60 to 70km per hour, with gusts up to 90-110, but that is much more likely in the elevated areas rather than Canberra itself.

"Canberra won't see see anything quite that significant," Ms Kamitakahara said.

Ms Kamitakahara said the winds in Canberra could well increase over the next couple of hours before easing, but windy conditions were expected for the rest of the day.

"It's a little bit dependant on how much cloud we have over us at the moment, with a bit more cloud we might not see too much of an increase, but if we get a bit more sunshine we will see an increase in the winds," she said.

Canberrans wondering what happened to summer will be pleased to know this cold snap is only temporary.

Ms Kamitakahara said there was a cold air mass moving over Canberra, but it warm up again as the week went on.

"I guess it's the opposite of winter, in that we have mainly warm tempretures and occasionally a snap of cold weather, and in winter we have mainly cold and occasionally a little bit warmer," she said.