Eastern Australia is in for a hot, dry December that will keep firefighters on their toes, forecasters say.
The Bureau of Meteorology has just released its latest outlook for this summer, and it's a mixed bag.
Australia had its second wettest winter on record this year, with above average rainfall continuing into spring.
And that's both good and bad news when it comes to the bushfire threat.
The good rainfall means there's lots of water in eastern rivers and streams, helping them act as natural fire breaks.
Soils are also nice and damp, says Dr Andrew Watkins, from the bureau's climate prediction team.
But the rain has also resulted in heavy vegetation growth that could fuel fires when it dries out in the hotter- and drier-than-average conditions now being forecast for December.
"The odds have increased for drier than normal conditions for large parts of eastern Australia, including Canberra, Sydney and Brisbane, and all of those areas have bushland around them," Dr Watkins says.
"And there's at least an 80 per cent chance of things being hotter than normal in December, right through Queensland, NSW, much of South Australia, and the northern parts of Victoria."
He said next month's conditions underscore the need for extreme vigilance, with the fire season already underway with blazes breaking out in Queensland, NSW and Western Australia.
Dr Watkins says there's also an elevated risk of heatwaves next month, thanks to something known as the Southern Annular Mode.
This climate driver typically generates more westerly winds that prevent northern wet season rains from reaching southern parts of the continent and cooling things down.
Australians in Queensland's north, the Top End, and in northwestern Western Australia are also being warned not be complacent about cyclones this summer.
The last cyclone season, which runs from November to April, saw just three cyclones develop off Australia - the lowest ever recorded. Just one - Stan - crossed the coast in a remote part of Western Australia.
But weather patterns have since swung back towards those that favour the formation of cyclones.
"Typically we get about 11 tropical cyclones in Australia each season, with about four crossing the coast," Dr Watkins says.
"Our outlook is around the average mark this cyclone season."
The Bushfire and Natural Hazards Cooperative Research Centre is due to provide a revised update on Australia's bushfire risk on Wednesday.
