Canberrans experienced a relatively warm Monday afternoon but it came before one the coldest fronts to cross the territory since spring.
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Weatherzone meteorologist Ben McBurnie said while skies were clear on Monday afternoon, Canberrans would be waking to temperatures of between 1 and 3 degrees from Thursday to Monday.
''We can expect to see snow fall on the Brindabella ranges from Friday as a series of cold fronts roll in from Tuesday evening,'' he said.
''We'll see showers and some rain fall late on Tuesday, which will be associated with the approach of the first cold mass.''
But despite the chilly mornings, Mr McBurnie said it would be a relatively dry end to April compared to the deluge of rain the territory received earlier in the month.
Canberra exceeded the average autumn rainfall just two weeks into the month with 141 millimetres of rain falling between March 1 and April 14.
''It doesn't look like Canberra will receive as much rain as inland regions to its west on Tuesday evening with between 2 and 3 millimetres to fall by Wednesday morning,'' he said. But Mr McBurnie said despite the relatively clear skies, Canberra would experience the ''very chilly'' onset of winter from Thursday morning.
''A very strong cold front will move across Canberra on Thursday morning - the coldest we've seen in a long time - certainly since spring,'' he said. While Thursday is expected to be one of the coldest mornings this year, Mr McBurnie said Saturday would likely see the lowest maximum temperature this year.
''We're expected to reach a top of 13 degrees on Saturday although due to a wind chill and a cold front forming over the Tasman Sea it's expected to feel more like 10 degrees,'' he said.
The coldest morning of the year was April 20, when 0.6 degrees was recorded, while the coldest April morning ever recorded was -3.7 degrees in 1999.
Mr McBurnie said morning temperatures from Thursday onwards would be up to 5 degrees cooler than the April average of 6 degrees.
''Looking into May we'll be averaging lows of about 3 degrees, so we're really on the cusp of winter.''
He said the cold weather was expected to continue from Monday next week.