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Canberra weather: Capital shivers through coldest morning in six years

If you're reading this still snuggled up in bed, you might want to stay there. It was colder in Canberra than at Thredbo on Saturday morning, as temperatures in the capital plunged to minus 8.7.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Helen Reid said that while it was the coldest morning in at least six years, the low actually surpassed that recorded on July 29 2011, at minus 8 degrees, and was on track to break more records.

"We won't know for sure for a few days yet if it's surpassed any others, but it's definitely in the running for a medal," she said.

While Canberrans were already bracing for a chilly start to the weekend, with lows of 6 degrees forecast for Saturday and Sunday, temperatures slid even further into freezing just after sunrise.

Canberra's coldest morning on record was in 1971 at minus 10 degrees, and the average minimum for July sits at minus 1.1.

"It is usual [for Canberra], you'll have the odd frosty morning at minus 3 or 4 but minus 8.7 is definitely noteworthy," Ms Reid said.

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Tuggeranong was a balmy minus 5.8 degrees in comparison and Thredbo hit minus 7.6 degrees, with no snow falling on Saturday morning.

While Sydney managed to stay out of subzero temperatures, Goulburn took the low a degree further, hitting minus 9.7 overnight.

The weather was so cold it even hampered firefighting efforts for crews battling a blaze in Bungendore on Friday night.

Photos posted on the Queanbeyan City Rural Fire Brigade Facebook page show water from the crew's hoses turning into "ice slushy" after freezing over due to the subzero temperatures.

Crews said the ground temperature got as low as minus 15 between 3am and 7am.

The Rural Fire Service's acting manager for the Lake George zone, Inspector Chris Allen, said that while he had seen cold firefighting conditions before, he hadn't seen any that led to the water freezing.

He said there were constant shift changes throughout the night in order to keep crews warm.

"We had a safety officer to monitor the freezing and the crews that were on the ground," he said.

Water was recirculated through a pump to stop it from freezing as they fought the house fire.

For those hibernating indoors, Saturday was expected to reach a sunny 13 degrees after its icy start.

But there was little relief in sight for Sunday morning, as Ms Reid warned another minus 8 degree low looked likely.

"We're in for another chilly night tonight, possibly as cold, or perhaps a degree warmer," she said.

A high pressure ridge was behind the sharp drop in temperatures across the region.

"It's been so still overnight, there's been no wind, no cloud cover like a blanket to keep the warm air in overnight."

But, come Monday, Ms Reid said that ridge would be moving out and minimum temperatures would climb back up to the zero mark.

"That should feel positively tropical after this," she said. "We'll be back to our usual cold Canberra, rather than freezing Canberra."