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Canberra has shivered through its coldest May day in almost 20 years, as temperatures plummeted across the capital. Tuesday's maximum temperature was just 9.1 degrees, the coldest top for May since 2000. The cold conditions are set to continue on Wednesday, with a maximum of 10 forecast. However, Helen Kirkup from the Bureau of Meteorology said strong winds have made the apparent temperature well below zero. "There's a severe weather warning covering most of the southern parts of NSW," Ms Kirkup said. "Braidwood got wind gusts of 102km/h." Meanwhile, Canberra recorded winds of more than 60km/h. The recent weather has led to a bumper snowfall for ski resorts, with 40 centimetres expected to fall across the Snowy Mountains by the end of the week. Already, Perisher has received more than 25 centimetres in recent days. Ms Kirkup said snow could come to parts of the ACT throughout Wednesday in the mountains. "A lot of precipitation will fall on the Brindabellas as it comes across later this afternoon," she said. "There'll be a dusting of snow around parts of the ACT above 700 metres, so we might get it around the hills." The cold snap has been driven by strong winds off the southern coast of Tasmania that's drifted north. "It's a deep low pressure system which is directing all of that cold air northwards, which essentially originated over the Southern Ocean," Ms Kirkup said. "That's going to move to the east today and the wind should ease off." While the maximum temperatures will increase in the next few days, the cold weather is set to continue as Canberra moves into winter. It's expected to get up to 12 and 16 degrees respectively on Thursday and Friday, with a mostly sunny day forecast. However, the minimum temperature is set to drop to minus 3 on both days.

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