IT will be the hottest summer in at least three years for much of the country as the sun makes its return to Brisbane, Sydney and Canberra, where temperatures will be above average and warmer than last year, says Tom Saunders, senior meteorologist at The Weather Channel.

The unrelenting rain from two consecutive La Niña years has now cleared and in its place Australia’s warm and dry weather returns, he says. The hotter and drier outlook is the result of a weak El Niño combined with abnormal Indian Ocean temperatures.

The Weather Channel says there is also a heightened risk of bushfires this season for most of the country compared to the 2010/11 and 2011/12 seasons.

Grassland areas of central WA, SA, inland NSW and southern inland Queensland are most at risk. The fire potential for forest regions of south-east Queensland, eastern NSW, Victoria, Tasmania and SA is also substantially higher.