Melbourne could have its coldest first day of summer on record.

An untimely cold front will pass over southeastern Australia on the first day of summer, bringing blustery and potentially damaging winds, showers, thunderstorms and a mass of cold Southern Ocean air.

Image: The ECMWF-HRES computer model showing cold air moving over southeastern Australia on Sunday.

This wintry mix of weather will send shivers across multiple states during the first weekend of summer, with snow likely to fall in some areas.

Melbourne is only forecast to reach 15 degrees on Sunday, which is nine degrees below average for December. If the temperature stays below 15.5 degrees between 9am on Sunday and 9am on Monday, it will be the city's coldest first day of summer in 164 years of records.

As of Wednesday, only two days in November and three days in October this year had maximum temperatures at or below 15 degrees in Melbourne.

The city's coldest December day on record was 10.4 degrees on the 12th day of the month in 1867.