Perisher Valley registered Australia's lowest March temperature in ten years on Thursday morning.

A pool of cold air passing over southeastern Australia behind a strong front sent the mercury plummeting on Wednesday. The wintry blast caused snow to settle in Tasmania and Victoria.

Image: Observed temperatures on Thursday morning.

By the early hours of Thursday morning, the temperature at Perisher Valley had dropped to a numbing minus 5.9 degrees. This is the lowest temperature measured anywhere in Australia during March since 2009.

This cold weather comes after an unusually warm start to autumn in southeastern Australia.

On Sunday, Hobart experienced its hottest March day on record after reaching 39.1 degrees. Dover's 40.1 degrees on the same day was the first time in recorded history any Tasmanian location has exceeded 40 degrees during March.

Perisher Valley managed to reach 23.6 degrees on Monday afternoon, almost 30 degrees warmer than it was on Thursday morning.

Australia's lowest March temperature on record was -7.2 degrees at Kiandra Chalet in NSW during 1964.