For the first time since records began being taken at the Orange Airport in 1996, the region has failed to smash through that 30 degree Celsius glass ceiling at any point throughout what are supposed to be the hottest months of the year.

Throughout December, January and February, the highest maximum recorded temperature, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, was 28.9 degrees on February 10.

The highest maximum temperature over the course of a very wet January was 28.7 on January 2 and the first month of summer peaked at 28.1 on December 18.

It's hardly the summer anyone in Orange deserves after bunking down throughout the city's notoriously brisk winter months.

In fact, it's the first time since records were recorded at the airport in 1996 that Orange hasn't had a summer's day over 30 degrees Celsius.

Historical records show the average temperature throughout summer in Orange hovers around the 26 degrees mark, but the 2021-22 summer was around two degrees cooler than that again. Still, zero days above that 30-degree mark is an anomaly, even for Orange.

The closest the city has come to that mark is one day over 30 degrees in the summer of 1999-2000, and normally there's around eight to 10 days that hit the mark.

At the other end of the spectrum, the summer of 2018-19 Orange recorded 39 days over the 30 degrees mark. That season, the region was often blanketed in smoke - thanks to the mighty Gospers Mountain bushfire - or covered in dust due to the incredibly lengthy drought.

Looking at this summer, Weatherzone meteorologist Jessica Miskelly says a combination of a string of high pressure systems consistently to the south of Australia and easterly winds on the east coast pushed cloud cover inland, keeping day-time temperatures unusually low.

"And it just never stopped raining," she said. "It's definitely been a cooler-than-normal summer.

"In terms of rainfall, it was wetter last year (2020-21), but this was one of the wettest on record as well. If you eliminate last summer, this has been Orange's wettest summer since 2014-15. The rain and cool temperatures, it's certainly not an every-year occurrence."

The city recorded 274.4mm of rain over summer, too - the bulk of which came throughout a monumental 171mm in January.

It was less than the 297.2mm throughout 2020-21 but, as Ms Miskelly says, it was well above the average, which 230mm for the three months over summer.

Looking ahead to autumn, slightly above average rainfall is on the cards for March, April and May, with recent observations in the Pacific Ocean suggesting La Nia has passed its peak and is starting to weaken.

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