AUTUMN officially hit in the Hunter over the Easter long weekend as residents awoke on Easter Monday to one of the coldest mornings in months.
The region shivered through the Easter break as a strong cold front brought severe storm warnings before temperatures plunged across the east coast.
The icy conditions come as the cold front, attached to a low-pressure system, tracked across South Australia from Thursday, the Bureau of Meteorology's senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said.
The storms and rain never eventuated, but the weather certainly cooled.
The temperature dropped as low as 5.8 degrees in Murrurundi in the Upper Hunter and 5.2 degrees on the Central Coast on Monday morning, while it was a few degrees warmer in Cessnock (7.1 degrees) and Maitland and Singleton (both 8.6 degrees).
Newcastle and Lake Macquarie reached lows of 11.7 and 9.2 degrees, respectively, as cold coastal wind crept in.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a number of warnings for the Hunter, mostly related to the cold and blustery wind.
There was a hazardous surf warning for coastal activities such as rock fishing, boating and swimming, and a warning to sheep graziers that cold temperatures, showers and southwesterly winds on Easter Monday and Tuesday could lead to loss of livestock.
The weather should be warmer for the rest of the week, with a top of 26 degrees forecast in Newcastle on Sunday.
But there are showers on the way between now and then and more strong wind, which could wreak havoc with those near the coast.
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