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While some people might bemoan the cooler weather on Monday, Mr McDowell said he was looking forward to taking his kids to an indoor play centre for a change.

"Although it’s not going to be warm and sunny you can now do indoor activities - if it’s coinciding with rain it’s maybe not the worst timing," he said.

The up and down temperatures alongside increased rain and storm activity are “pretty common for spring”, Mr McDowell said.

"You get the heat building in central Australia - some hot days then cool air comes through and temperatures drop off massively. You get those big swings in temperature."

The weather bureau is predicting a damp spring and summer, and the State Emergency Service is preparing for a heightened risk of floods.

"The outlook until December-January is likely to very likely wetter than average," Mr McDowell said, as he watched "a few lightning bolts out the window" on Sunday afternoon when the cool change swept through Sydney.

The city woke up to a blanket of smoke haze on Sunday morning after a weekend of hazard-reduction burning by the NSW Rural Fire Service.

The still conditions caused the smoke to settle after the RFS conducted burns on the Central Coast, Ku-ring-gai, the northern beaches and in Sydney’s south.

Air quality suffered with Macquarie Park receiving a "very poor" rating and Rouse Hill getting a "poor" rating on the state government's monitoring site.