![The Wimmera - Mallee shivered through a dreary cold day, but moderate rainfall totals had farmers smiling. Photo by Gregor Heard. The Wimmera - Mallee shivered through a dreary cold day, but moderate rainfall totals had farmers smiling. Photo by Gregor Heard.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/5Q2j7ezUfQBfUJsaqK3gfB/082351ab-4809-46ad-ab5c-ef1ef54f2a7f.JPG/r0_0_2976_2788_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A slow moving cold front sent the mercury plummeting in western Victoria on Friday with one Wimmera centre recording its coldest day on record.
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Normally sunny Nhill, in the west Wimmera, only made it to 8.3 degrees according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather station, its coldest day ever, while a number of other localities recorded their coldest June day ever.
At Horsham aerodrome, where records have been kept for 27 years, the maximum of 8.1 was the lowest daily maximum for June, compared to 8.8 last year, and the coldest day since 12 July 2016 at 8.1.
The all-time coldest day recorded at the station was 8 degrees.
Both Charlton and Hopetoun, also in north-western Victoria recorded their lowest daily maximums at just 8.3.
But while it was a chilly day across the region, farming families were smiling as light to moderate falls fell to help crops struggling to germinate.
The BOM's gauge at Meengo, near Telopea Downs in far western Victoria, measured 32mm, while Kaniva had 21mm, desperately needed after very poor autumn rainfall.
Rain tapered to the south and to the west, but there were still widespread falls of 5-15mm, which given low evaporation rates should be sufficient to germinate crops.
Across the border in South Australia there were similar tallies across most cropping regions, with elevated areas like the Adelaide Hills recording higher totals.
Unusually, the rain focused on the northern Wimmera and southern Mallee and did not push further east, with no rain at all measured east of Charlton.