They always say that Parliament House in Canberra is full of hot air, and here's your proof.

Local artist Fenji Stradwick took this pic on Wednesday afternoon in Pialligo (near the airport) looking west towards the parliamentary zone.

Image: A "very tiny" and we think quite cute anvil cloud over Canberra. Source: Fenji Stradwick.

For the record, Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard offered this highly knowledgeable and quite poetic description of the cloud:

"It's a very tiny anvil cloud from a cumulus cloud. The anvil part is caused when the rising air hits a warmer, stable layer that it can't rise past. As a result, the air spread out like smoke on a glass window."

Nice work, Joel. Here's another view of the anvil cloud, this time from Canberra's Red Hill.

Image: OK, so it's not quite above Parly House. Close enough! Source: Karen White.

Meanwhile this afternoon's warmth is quite atypical for the 2021/22 Canberra summer to date, as the following info shows:

As a background, the national capital had its hottest and second-hottest summers on record respectively in the summers of 2018/19 and 2019/20.

But this summer and last summer have been extremely mild by comparison, due of course to La Niña, which typically brings extra cloudiness and rain.

There are many ways to compare Canberra's two hot summers with the ensuing relatively cool pair. One way is to highlight the number of days when the maximum temp reached (or exceeded) 30°C.

For example:

• Canberra had 12 days of 30°C or higher in December 2018.
• Canberra had 18 days of 30°C or higher in December 2019.
• Canberra had just 6 days of 30 °C or higher in December 2021 (and none of them even reached 31°C).

Another example:

• Canberra had 25 days of 30°C or higher in January 2019.
• Canberra had 19 days of 30°C or higher in January 2020 (including Canberra's hottest recorded temperature of 44°C on Jan 4).
• Canberra had just 4 days of 30°C or higher in January 2022.

Canberra is famous for being freezing in winter (by Australian standards) and hot and dry in summer. By local standards, the last two summers have been very mild and wet.

But Canberra's weather has now been mostly stable for a couple of weeks, with just two rain days in February to date, and locals say it's actually starting to feel like summer.

Summer is almost over, but it looks like the weather has finally got the memo. https://t.co/OqDO1xuBZx

— Canberra Times (@canberratimes) February 15, 2022

Normally, a five-day streak of 30-degree February weather would be completely unremarkable. But after the mercury touched 30°C over each of the past three days, Canberra is now looking at an expected top of 31°C tomorrow and 30°C on Friday.

If it happens, the five-day 30-degree streak will be the longest warm spell of the 2021/22 summer to date.

Afterwards, things should cool a little back down to the mid-to-high twenties. The best chance of any rain in the next week or so looks like next Monday.

OUR STORY FROM A WET NOVEMBER 2021: CANBERRA IS LOOKING RIDICULOUSLY GREEN RIGHT NOW