Australia shivers through its coldest morning of the year after temperatures plunge overnight

Australians are enduring the coldest morning of the year after temperatures on the south and eastern coastlines plunged overnight. 

Polar air moving in from the Southern Ocean has brought the coldest day of the year for Melbourne (5C), Sydney (6C), Canberra (-2C) and Hobart (3C).  

Parts of Western Sydney dropped to zero degrees on Thursday morning. 

Parts of New South Wales recorded temperatures as low as -4.6C in Orange while those in the Snowy Mountains will feel the cold the most, where temperatures will drop to an icy -7C in Cooma, well below the -1.3C minimum average for June. 

Widespread frost was forecast for much of NSW on Thursday morning and is expected to extend into Friday morning.

‘Large parts of inland NSW will be sub zero over the next few nights,’ Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) forecaster Rob Taggart told Daily Mail Australia.

Parts of New South Wales recorded temperatures as low as -4.6C in Orange while those in the Snowy Mountains will feel the cold the most, where temperatures will drop to an icy -7C in Cooma, well below the -1.3C minimum average for June

Widespread frost was forecast for much of NSW on Thursday morning and is expected to extend into Friday morning

‘It’s due to a high pressure system across south-eastern Australia that’s not moving very fast.’

Meanwhile in Melbourne it was 5C just prior to dawn and is expected to reach a maximum of just 11C as a frost warning was issued by BOM. 

The most affected regions include Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North East, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland with temperatures getting down to -3C in these areas. 

The below average temperatures are expected to stick around until Sunday as three busts of polar air move in from the Southern Ocean.