On Saturday morning there were reports of snow falling at Yetholme, Sunny Corner, Wattle Flat, Walang and Billywillinga, as well as in Orange and the Oberon region.

Sarah Ryan from Hillandale Garden and Nursery at Yetholme said she was delighted and surprised to see the first snow fall of the year.

“It was very early in the year for snow, it’s unusual to have it when we still had such lovely autumn foliage,” she said.

Mrs Ryan said there was a snow shower around 7.30am and noted that snow started to settle around 8.30am.

“It sat for around two hours before it melted away,” she said.

Mrs Ryan said the light snow fall was beautiful and added she enjoyed going outside to wander around in it.

“It was absolutely gorgeous,” she said. 

“We were really happy to see the snow and it was excellent moisture for the garden, as we are still recovering from a warm summer.”

Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said the cold temperatures seen over the weekend were typically not seen until late May or June. 

“It is very early in the season for snow and such cold temperatures,” he said. “It is the coldest it has been this early in the year for 20 years.”

Mr Dutschke said the last time there was a colder day so early in the year was on April 12, 1994 when a maximum of 7.5 degrees was recorded. 

He said while the temperature on Saturday reached a minimum of 3.7 degrees and sat around five degrees for the majority of the day, the official maximum for the 24-hour period was 7.9 degrees.

However, Mr Dutschke added that temperatures on Saturday felt more like one degree due to 35 kilometre -an-hour winds. 

Mr Dutschke noted the temperature was well below the long-term May maximum average of 16 degrees. 

He said the cold temperatures were due to an intense cold front from the south-west of Australia, which had moved north-east on Friday.

Mr Dutschke said while it was hard to predict snow he did not think any more would fall in the next few weeks.

Light frosts were expected most mornings for the rest of the week and it will be mostly sunny on Friday and Saturday.

Today and tomorrow are expected to reach a maximum of 13 degrees, but temperatures are expected to heat up as the week goes on, with a maximum of 18 degrees predicted for Saturday.