​The last time Melbourne suffered through this callous a winter a young freckled red head was about to make a name for herself in Hollywood for her role in Dead Calm. Back then, Melburnians who sought comfort from the chill fled under covers to watch television sets pump out episodes of Fast Forward and Acropolis Now.

This winter Melburnians braved a cold not experienced since 1989. We hibernated in front of thinner screens watching shows about mythical creatures called White Walkers and people under threat of 'winter coming' while we wished for the day our own winter would end.

Today is that day.

"Cold and dry" was how one senior weather forecaster summed up the past three months. The Bureau of Meteorology's Richard Carlyon wasn't the least bit surprised to officially record, as he compiled temperatures today, the eve of spring, that it had been the coldest winter in 26 years.

"We have averaged 13.9 degrees," said Mr Carlyon.

If winter this year felt particularly punishing - full of teeth-rattling mornings as back-to-back cold fronts swept through with an absence of mild days scattered in between - you were not imagining it. It's the lack of those mild days that failed to lift average winter temperatures up.

"In a sense, we have been spoilt with winters over the past decade with mild conditions," reflected Mr Carlyon. "We just haven't had that this winter, even if it is just once or twice a week, we just haven't had any mild or sunny days to add to the warmth."

And coupled with the cold has been the dry, involving a lack of cloud cover to protect the state from bone-numbing chills. Sure, it's been wet. But according to the bureau, it has been more of a persistent drizzle rather than full-bodied rain. In Melbourne, there were 19 rain days in July and 16 in August yet only 120mm of city rain fell this winter (the average is normally 150mm).

Meanwhile, any shift in weather as the city moves into spring will not be pronounced.

"The first week is still likely to stay cool," Mr Carlyon said. "Normally at this time of year we are looking for temperatures to move into the 20s and swing out of that winter cycle ... but still temperatures around the mid-teens for the next week or so.

"No sign of any break out spring weather just yet."