Canberra has limped through the coldest morning of the year with temperatures dropping to a low of -3.9 degrees around 5.40am.
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Weatherzone meteorologist Max Gonzalez said July was shaping up to be a colder-than-average month with an overnight average of -1 degree and a daytime average of 11 degrees, which is 0.5c colder than the July average.
“Temperatures have dropped below freezing in Canberra every morning this month with the exception of Thursday and Sunday morning,” he said.
Mr Gonzalez said Monday morning felt so chilly was because it was more than 8 degrees colder than the Sunday low of 4.4 degrees - an exceptionally warm morning for July.
“It was a little windy with gusts up to 10 or 11km/h [on Monday] which were enough to make it feel pretty chilly,” he said.
Mr Gonzalez said the next few starts would not be as cold as Monday morning although temperatures were tipped to drop below freezing with a 40 per cent chance of fog.
He said frosts were a near certainty on Tuesday morning.
The bad news for those feeling the cold is there’s another cold front due to a pass over Canberra on Wednesday evening and Thursday.
“Rain should develop late on Wednesday in Canberra but don’t expect too much, probably between 2-8mm falling before Thursday night,” he said.
The cold front should bring another 20-40cm of snow to Thredbo and Perisher on Wednesday night with windy and cloudy conditions.
Perisher spokesman Richard Phillips said the resort was preparing for a “reasonably big snow storm” that could result in 1.7m of snow cover for weekend skiers.
“It’s a really good cover at the moment and 100 per cent of the mountain and lifts are open with good quality dry snow,” he said.
Mr Phillips said there was 1.3m of snow at the resort on Monday morning which was more they’ve had at this time of the season for many years.