It's winter, alright. Thursday morning saw one of the lowest temperatures recorded in the last few weeks.
It was -5.8 degrees at Canberra Airport and -4.6 degrees at Tuggeranong.
A road alert was issued about 7am, owing to frosty conditions and a few areas experiencing fog. People were asked to be careful on the roads, but the alert has since been lifted.
Office-going Canberrans were seen walking with pocketed hands, dreading the frigid walk from the car/bus stop/bike rack into work.
"A very cold morning throughout much of southeastern Australia but certainly across Canberra," senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology Angus Hines said.
"We had really clear calm conditions overnight last night. Any heat from the day before escaped up into the atmosphere and in the temperatures plunging."
It was not the coldest morning of winter - there have been colder days this season - but the last time it was this chilly was July 27.
On the bright side, Mr Hines said a clear, calm night always leads to a clear and settled day. A top of 15 degrees was expected on Thursday.
"We generally are looking at quite a nice day for the majority of Thursday through the region, mostly sunny weather, potentially just a little bit of cloud cover, a little bit of wind flow later on as the front approaches from the west," he said.
"It will take a couple of hours for the frost to thaw out in the Canberra area."
Rain could come in late Thursday night or first thing on Friday morning. Bit of a wet start but showers won't be too heavy (between zero to five millimetres) as Canberrans wake up and get into their day.
"However everything's pushing through quite quickly. For the second half of the day on Friday looks like that risk of showers diminishes and clears up although it will stay quite windy as we round out the work week," Mr Hines said.
On Friday, it'll be a minimum of 2 degrees and a maximum of 11 degrees with cloudy conditions and strong northwesterly winds.
Fresh snow awaits weekenders
Modest amounts of snow will fall in the alpine areas as the cold front moves into Friday. Areas elevated at 1000 metres and above are expected to get a "fresh coat" of snow, about 5 to 15 centimetres, between Thursday and Friday night.
The Bureau expects a high chance of snow showers in Thredbo and Perisher just before the end of the work week. People looking to visit the snow on the weekend are in for a top-up of wintery goodness.
The weekend will start off dry but chilly on Saturday. It will be a frosty morning followed by a sunny afternoon and a top of 13 degrees and winds between 20 to 30 kmh.
On Sunday, winds will ease and it will be slightly warmer and cloudy with a maximum of 17 degrees.
