RELATED: Driest June on record tipped
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Temperatures as low as -4 degrees will start July, after what is shaping up to be one of the driest Junes in more than 150 years of records.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting a low of -4 degrees for Redesdale on Saturday; -2 in Bendigo, Castlemaine and Maryborough; and -3 in Echuca and Kyneton.
Maximum temperatures for the first day of July range from 10 degrees in Kyneton to 13 degrees in Echuca.
The chilly start follows a month of very little rainfall in the region, with just 2.2mm falling in Bendigo in the first 28 days of June.
The driest June on record in Bendigo was back in 1876 when just 6.6mm fell at the Bendigo prison.
A 20 per cent chance of rain is forecast today, and nothing for Friday, which could mean 2017 will be the driest June since 1862 when records began in Bendigo.
Sub-zero temperatures to start July
If the mercury dips to -4 degrees, it will be the coldest temperature recorded in Redesdale since September 25, 2006, when it plummeted to -4.2 degrees.
An icy -5.8 degrees is the lowest temperature for Redesdale in the Bureau of Meteorology records which date back to 1993. The coldest July day was -4.2 degrees on the 23rd in 1994 – the only July date to have dropped to -4 degrees or below.
The last time the mercury dipped to -4 degrees in Bendigo was a lot more recent, on August 3, 2014.