Parts of southern Australia just registered their coldest autumn temperature in several years. 

Clear skies and light winds under a high pressure system combined with a cold air mass to send temperatures plummeting across southern Australia on Friday morning.

Image: Visible satellite image shows clear skies over most of Australia on Friday morning.

As the sun rose over Melbourne, the mercury was sitting below five degrees and by 8am it had dropped to 4.5 degrees. This was the city's coldest autumn morning in four years and its coldest this early in the season for six years.

Further west, Adelaide cooled to 4.7 degrees at the city's Kent Town weather station, making this its coldest autumn morning in five years and the coldest this early in the season for ten years.

Image: Visible satellite and surface temperature observations on Friday morning.

Outside the capitals, temperatures dropped as low as -7.3 degrees at Perisher Valley and -6.5 degrees at Thredbo Top Station in the NSW alps. 

Other notable minimums included 4.6 degrees at Cleve Airport in South Australia, which was a 14-year low for autumn, and 0.5 degrees at Mildura in Victoria, their lowest autumn temperature in nine years.

In the southeastern corner of Western Australia, Eucla's low of 5.3 degrees on Friday morning was its lowest temperature this early in the year since 1978.

The cold start will give way to a pleasant autumn day, with relatively calm and sunny weather on the cards for most of southern Australia on Friday.