Winter has well and truly arrived in Sydney with temperatures in the city set to stay below 19 degrees for the first two weeks of June for the first time in over 20 years.

After a high pressure system landed in NSW on Thursday, the Bureau of Meteorology forecast a second round of cold fronts to move across southeastern Australia from Saturday, bringing the return of cold and windy weather , with snow possible in parts of the state.

Sydney is expected to reach a maximum temperature of 18 degrees on Saturday and Sunday, with even cooler weather forecast until next week.

But meteorologist Jordan Notara, from the Bureau of Meteorology, said the wind chill factor left Sydney much cooler than reported temperatures.

“A drier, windier day with a cooler temperature results in a cooler ‘feel’ temperature,” Notara said, which is why the Sydneysiders might think the temperature gauge is lying to them when they step out over the next two weeks.

Temperatures in Sydney dropped to 8 degrees on Friday, with north to northwest winds expected to hit in the evening, bringing showers and potentially snow for the mid-west and the Snowy Mountains.

By next Wednesday, the office expects Sydney to be shaking through a 7-degree low with north-westerly winds of up to 30 kph to return, and a dangerous surf warning was in place on Friday on the NSW coast, including Macquarie Coast, Hunter Coast, Sydney Coast and Illawarra Coast and the coast of Batemans Bay, where waves reached over three meters on Thursday.

A Big W spokesperson said it sold 27,000 heaters in the past month, ‘a sign that Australian families are stocking up for the cooler months ahead’ and down jacket sales have increased by 10% compared to the same period last year.