As the first month of winter came a close, Ballarat's maximum temperature averages sat pretty close to normal, averaging just over 11 degrees for the month.

But for the most part, cool, clear days meant the rainfall which fell was well below average.

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June saw just 39.2mm of rain, well down on the usual 62.7mm we can expect in what is traditionally one of the city's wetter months.

Early on in the month it appeared that we could be in for a long, wet winter with the first five days of June all having some rainfall, but as it turned out, June 1's top of just 7.3 degrees, with 7mm of rain, was the coldest and wettest it would get for the month.

Despite the sunshine, a lack of wind - particularly a lack of north winds - kept conditions on the cool side for the entire month with the highest temperature recorded coming on June 11 at just 13.7 degrees.

This is well below June records which includes temperatures which have gone as high as the early 20s. The highest temperature ever recorded in June is 21,7 degrees back in 1957.

Interestingly, June still produced 17 days where some rain fell, but the majority of days had less than a millimetre fall.

But while the days were mostly clear, the region experienced some of its coldest nights in years.

We dropped as low as -3.5 in the early morning of June 9, one of only three nights, just the third time in the past 10 years that we have gone below -3.

In all June saw seven nights when the temperature dropped below zero, highlighted by Monday morning's 'feel like' temperature hitting -5.6 at 7.20am. Normally we would see only three nights below zero for the month.

It has meant severe frosts, something not seen for many years, becoming a regular features of mornings.

Those who are still driving to work would have been met with a lot of ice that needed to be cleared off cars.

These cold nights contributed to the overall average overnight temperature of just 2.7 degrees, well short of the usual 3.9 we normally experience.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said June was the first month this year where most of the state had experienced less than average rainfall.

He said the rest of winter could expect average rainfall, with no specific issues relating to future climate events on the short term horizon.

YOU Can traditionally expect some nasty weather in the first week of July across Ballarat and, like clockwork, the changing of the month is expected to bring an end to what was essentially a spectacular June.

Temperatures are expected to plummet with the onset of a change which is expected to reach the west of the state on Wednesday night.

Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said the cold front system will being damaging winds to areas along the Great Dividing Range, with the Grampians region expected to be first to feel the effects.

"We're expecting to see showers and storms in southern Victoria, with the risk of hail as well," Mr Stewart said.

"You can expect a much colder day on Thursday and the fresh westerly winds will make it feel even colder than it is.

"We can expect snow showers to 900-1000 metres by the end of Thursday, so it likely you will see 5-15cm of snow in alpine regions."

Mr Stewart said winds were expected to get particularly strong

"We could exceed 100kmh gusts in alpine regions, but we can expect about 90km/h along the central ranges and around 70-80km/h in southern Victoria," he said

Ballarat is expecting top temperatures of just 10 degrees every day from Thursday to Saturday and just 11 on Sunday but rainfall should be at a minimum with no more than 5mm predicted on any of the days, however squally winds will remain until at least Sunday.

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