The exceptionally dry and mild autumn is likely to extend well into winter for Sydney and much of south-eastern Australia, heightening concerns for ski resorts and farmers alike.

The Bureau of Meteorology's outlook for winter shows that odds sharply favour drier and warmer-than-normal weather for all of NSW and most of Victoria.

The autumn leaves finally started to turn brown at Blackheath in the Blue Mountains at the start of May. Credit:Wolter Peeters

With the final data still being crunched, southern Australia will most likely have endured its second-driest autumn behind only 1902 - at the height of the Federation drought - said Andrew Watkins, head of the bureau's climate prediction services.