After a heavy morning frost Orange residents bade farewell to autumn on Monday following an unseasonably dry and chilly lead-up to winter, which is expected to begin with another icy morning on Tuesday.
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Orange's rainfall during autumn surpassed seasonal averages however it was propped up by the wettest March since 1956, with the combined precipitation through April and May significantly lower than usual.
Offsetting the record-breaking rainfall observed in March, the Bureau of Meteorology recorded just 46.2 millimetres of rain across April and May compared to the usual, combined average of 120.1 for those months.
As rain became scarce throughout April and May so too did the mercury begin to drop, with the average maximum and minimum temperatures recorded falling slightly below averages.
The average maximum temperate of 17.5 degrees Celsius marginally lower than the typical median of 18.5, while the average minimum temperate was 5.2 compared to the median on 7.5.
The highest recorded temperature was 28.5 in early March while the lowest was an icy minus four on May 16. The latter equaled the lowest on record which, coincidentally, was also on May 16 back in 1999.
That, BOM climatologist Dr Lynette Bettio explained, was consistent nation-wide. She said it was the coolest autumn since 2015 across most of Australia.
Orange's total rainfall of 280mm compared to the autumn average of 187mm was also consistent with most of the state, the city's second wettest March an achievement matched across NSW.
"Cool conditions would have been felt particularly keenly by residents in inland NSW, who recorded minimum temperatures one to two degrees below average," she said, with those rainfall trends leading to floods which devastated the state.
The mercury in Orange also dropped below zero on several occasions through autumn however, based on the Bureau of Meteorology's seasonal climate outlook Orange looks set for warmer winter months than usual.
The outlook predicts Orange has a 65 per cent chance of a warmer-than-average winter which, similarly, is consistent with forecasts across both NSW and Australia. Specifically, the outlook is predicting warmer than usual night-time temperatures in winter.
The climate outlook rates Orange an 80 per cent chance of receiving higher-than-average rainfalls in winter too however Dr Bettio explained conditions and 20-year trends suggest it will remain dry during the early stages of June.
That applies to most of the more-southern areas of Australia.
"Our climate drivers are currently neutral, meaning we're not getting El Nino or La Nina bringing particularly dry nor particularly wet conditions," she said.
The forecast for the opening week of winter aligns with those predictions, with maximum temperatures expected to sit between 12 and 14 degrees from Tuesday, June 1 to Monday, June 7.
That is, however, expected to come after a freezing low of minus three overnight on Tuesday, with another heavy frost expected to open the winter months.
Although it remains to be seen if they're reached, the predicted maximum temperatures are well above the usual June average of 10.6 degrees and the corresponding days from 2020.
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