The coldest day of the year on Monday was a fitting way to end the coldest May in a decade, as Canberra braces for winter to begin.

The city shivered through a low of minus 6.3 degrees just before 7.30am on Monday, the coldest temperature recorded in Canberra since 2018.

The temperature dropped to minus 5.2 degrees on the first morning of winter on Tuesday, but Canberra will likely miss out on a dump of snow predicted for the Snowy Mountains.

Wednesday is forecast to have a lot of 1 degree - the first day back in positive territory since Wednesday last week.

There's a chance of some showers on Thursday, and then the frosty starts are meant to return with minus 2 forecast for Saturday and Sunday.

Maximum temperatures aren't expected to get past the 16 forecast for Wednesday, hovering closer to 14 for most of the week.

Meteorologist Shuang Wang said the weather system would enter the west of NSW, heading this way across the state on Thursday.

While snow wasn't on the cards for the ACT any time soon, the cold front could bring rain towards the end of the week.

Ms Wang said the cold weather Canberrans woke up to on Monday could be explained by a weather system moving in off South Australia.

"This is because of the high-pressure system just over the south east of Australia," she said.

Ms Wang said light winds and a clear sky overnight combined to provide low temperatures to start the week.

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Ms Wang said it was too early too accurately predict whether Canberra was headed for a colder than usual winter, although the chance of snow in the city was very low.

In the mountains, the ski season will officially open on the June long weekend, with snowfields at Kosciuszko National Parks predicting record crowds.

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