In the first true sign winter is on its way, as the sun was rising at around 6.30am temperatures across virtually the entire Central West were sitting below five degrees Celsius, and far lower in specific areas as well.

The temperature in Lithgow, Orange and Bathurst dropped into the realm of zero overnight, which was forecast in the two former areas, however the first of the three dived even lower.

At 6.30am on Monday morning Lithgow was recording a temperature of -1.4 degrees and residents couldn't be blamed if they thought it was even colder, with the 'feels like' temperature sitting at -2.4 at the same time.

Both Orange and Bathurst recorded their coldest temperatures of the night as the sun was rising too, both cities were sitting at 0.9 degrees at 6.30am as well.

In Orange, however, the 'feels like' temperature was a breath-taking -3.9 degrees.

Even in warmer parts of the region temperatures were low overnight, with Dubbo and Mudgee recording lows of two and 2.7 degrees early on Monday morning but even in those areas it felt as though it was below zero.

Mornings are expected to remain cool over the coming days as a pressure system drifts across the state, with the pattern expected to promote mostly dry, sunny weather.

The next trough looks set to affect the region in the middle of the week, though conditions will be mostly influenced by a high pressure ridge toward the weekend.

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