The minimum temperature in the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday was 4.8°C, which is the coldest recorded in February at the Mudgee Airport weather station.

So if you felt that it was a cold start to Tuesday you were right, it was a reading more typical of a night in May let alone the last month of Summer.

That’s right, just over a week after the highest temp ever recorded at the weather – not just for February, but overall – comes a benchmark at the other end of the thermometer.

Furthermore it undercut the previous February record – which was 5.4°C back in 1993 - by over half a degree.

According to Weatherzone.com.au “a strong front that crossed on the weekend carried a very cold airmass for this time of year over southeastern Australia”.

And it even produced snow in the Victorian Alps.

But bizarrely it comes at a time when Mudgee is on track for the hottest February ever recorded at the Mudgee Airport weather station.

As of Tuesday the average maximum temperature for the month is 34.9°C with a week to go, the previous record is 33.3°C set in 2004.

Saturday the 11^th saw 43.9°C, the highest temperature ever recorded at the weather station, with the 43°C the next day also clear of the old mark.

All on the back of Mudgee having its hottest January on record, with three heat records broken; the highest average maximum temperature; the highest average minimum temperature; and the the hottest January minimum temperature.

While the Gulgong and Nullo Mountain weather stations experienced their coldest nights of this month before Tuesday morning, it wasn’t record breaking at those locations.

The forecast is for temperatures to lift again for the end of the traditional working week, with 35-plus°C maximums for Thursday and Friday, before dipping below 30 to end the month.