Orange records 17th day of single digit temperatures, June 14, 2022, to near record run of July 1989

But our current run of freezing days to kick off the chilliest months of the year is one for the record books.

It's our coldest start to winter since 1957, Weatherzone confirmed on Monday, while our current run of 16 days of single digit top temperatures is knocking on the door of a record for Orange.

In July, 1989, Orange recorded 21 straight days of single digit temperatures.

Weatherzone meteorologist Yoska Hernandez said our current streak should be extended to 17 days on Tuesday, with a top temperature of 9 degrees Celsius on the forecast.

But a maximum of 10 degrees - let's break-out the shorts and thongs - will more than likely ensure the winter of 2022 falls short of that run set 33 years ago in 1989.

Ms Hernandez said a giant high pressure system hovering over South Australia is responsible for the sustained freezing weather in eastern Australia.

"It's been causing this long cold spell with snow in the alps and really low temperatures," she said.

This cold run kicked off on May 29 with a top temperature of 8.3 degrees Celsius, and since then the top temperature for the city has remained in single digits.

In that time, Orange's average top temperature has been 6.6 degrees Celsius, down almost four degrees on the long term average from the end of May, start of June.

Our coldest day was last Thursday, June 9, when we hit a top of 4.6 degrees Celsius. Monday peaked at 5.8 degrees a tick after 2pm, while as of 1pm on Tuesday we'd hit a high of just over 9 degrees after our best frost of the season to date with a start of minus-5.1 degrees at around 6am.

And while Orange has not seen the sort of snow some alpine parts of NSW and Victoria have enjoyed, the 39.4 millimetres of precipitation we've had - more than half of June's 73.3mm average - recorded could hardly be exclusively called rain.

Weatherzone says there are many forms of precipitation, and whilst most know the difference between rain and snow, the likes of drizzle, sleet, freezing rain, snow grains, snow pellets and hail, in some cases, might not be as easily identifiable.

Rain drops are generally classed as having a diameter of 0.5mm of great, with anything under that mark counted as drizzle.

While freezing rain generally forms, Weatherzone says, if the cold layer under a cloud is too shallow for the droplet to completely freeze before it hits the ground, it instead hits the ground as a supercooled raindrop. Again, anything less than 0.5mm in size is classed as drizzle - so in this case, freezing drizzle.

And the often-identifiable snow is white or translucent ice crystals with complex hexagonal shapes, often joining together to form snowflakes.

Less obvious to identify are snow grains and snow pellets. Whilst these are both white or opaque, they differ in that they fall from different types of clouds and are different sizes. Snow grains are less than 1mm in diameter whilst snow pellets are less than 5mm in diameter.

"Another form of precipitation that is more widely known is sleet (or ice pellets)," a Weatherzone spokesperson said.

"Sleet forms when snowflakes, or frozen raindrops, partially melt as they fall, then refreeze before they hit the ground.

While hail is ice particles that come in various shapes from round to irregular lumps and can be transparent or opaque. Hail, unlike other types of precipitation, can vary in size significantly, from that of a pea up to baseball.

Unlike previous types of precipitation, hail is almost always associated with a thunderstorm.