it's been a bitter start to Winter and after a chilly few days Australia's Southeast is about to cop a polar blast millions are being warned to brace for the big freeze I'm not coping it feels colder now than it did last year it is parts of Victoria and New South Wales are on track for the coldest start to Winter in decades far far colder I'm wearing ske socks to bed I've got arthritic knees and I've been very upset as southernly winds Ascend temperatures are set to plummet almost 30 mm of rain pounded parts of New South Wales today not ideal definitely wet than I expected still some Brave sydneys Siders took the plunge in more ways than one no cold feet for this bride and groom despite the Run of icy weather Melbourne's already copped its coldest June mornings since 2013 is free in Sydney and parts of Queensland the coldest in a year but across the country it's a mixed bag the top end is seeing Sunny tops above 30 in the western North it's still pretty warmer than average through those areas and we've seen a lot of Welcome rainfall through parts of wa there's more to come in the southwest a major low pressure system will see wa's Sunshine replaced by Rain by Wednesday while in the Southeast multiple cold fronts could deliver rain hail and up to 20 mm of snow welcome news after after a slow start to the season the weather bureau forecast this winter to be warmer than usual and it still could be for much of Australia it actually hasn't been that cold but the one area that consistently has been happens to be the most populated corner of the country but even when we do say a warm winter doesn't mean uh it's not going to be cold winter is always cold uh but we're comparing it to average 3 weeks into winter 10 to go what do you what do you mean Sayan Valance ABC News Melbourne