Canberrans can expect a cool change from Monday after a warm and windy weekend.

Temperatures in Canberra reached 38.5 degrees as the region's first heatwave of the year peaked on Wednesday.

A severe storm is expected to narrowly miss Canberra on Monday afternoon.

Robert Frost once pondered whether the world would end in fire, or in ice. They weren't heralding the world's end, but this week fire and ice both reared their heads across the state.

Winter's grip will finally feel like it's loosened amid a "heat spike" this weekend - even if that season's squeeze was not a very tight one.