Maitland folk have shivered into the coldest morning of the year so far, as winter sets in following a mild start to June.
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The mercury hit a low of 2.9 degrees at 2am Thursday morning reaching 11.6 degrees at 10.30am with a maximum of 18 degrees forecast.
The coldest temperature seen in NSW this year so far was recorded at Cooma airport, a freezing -9 degrees.
Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Rob Taggart said 2019 has been the warmest year on average to date, with mild conditions keeping daytime maximum and overnight minimum temperatures above the June average.
But ahead of the winter solstice on Saturday, heralding the true start to winter, temperatures will feel much cooler.
Maitland's forecast maximum on Thursday is 18 degrees, while Friday is forecast to be 16 degrees after a low of 3 degrees.
"This is just average winter conditions, but it feels quite cool because we've been experiencing above average autumn conditions and certainly above average summer conditions," Mr Taggart said. "It feels cooler because we've had the warmest start to the year so far."
Conditions in Maitland will take a turn for the worst over the weekend with rain forecast for both Saturday and Sunday and temperatures of 4 to 16 (Saturday) and 6 to 16 (Sunday). Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday next week are also forecast to be cold, wet and miserable with day time temperatures not expected to climb out of the teens.
"Most of the heavier showers will be coastal. Dams won't receive much rainfall out of this," Mr Taggart said.