A severe weather warning, for damaging winds, has been issued for the western and southwestern ranges of the ACT.
The warning, issued at 4.49am on Friday, is related to the passage of a cold front moving through.
Canberra is not expected to be affected by the damaging winds.
About 7.30am, winds at Thredbo reached up to 58 knots (100kmh to 110kmh) and they are expected to continue for a few hours.
The Bureau of Meteorology expects the winds would generally be between 50kmh to 60kmh but damaging gusts every now and then would reach up to 90kmh in many parts.
The reason for the bad weather is a "tight", low pressure system that has formed over the Bass Strait and a fairly strong high pressure system over New Zealand.
"With the strong pressure gradient in between there's a very strong squeeze in the winds," a Bureau meteorologist said.
The winds could affect in the alpine area for most of the day with the possibility of some relief in the evening.