Victoria's capital recorded an average maximum temperature of 25.9 degrees for the month, making it the coldest January since 2004 despite being in line with the long-term average.

"We've had quite hot Januarys recently; they've been averaging 27, 28, nearly 29 degrees over the last decade," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said.

Mr Carlyon said the city did not reach 40 degrees once in January and only breached 30 degrees seven times.

"So while we didn't have many warm days [this January], it was actually right on average."

The long-term average is 25.9 degrees, based on records dating back to 1856.

He said it may have felt colder and wetter than normal because of unusually warm and dry Januarys in the past few years.

The average January temperature was 28.6 degrees last year, 27.3 in 2013 and 27.4 in 2012.

The average minimum temperature this January was 15.9 degrees, which, despite being the lowest since 2005, was still warmer than the long-term average of 14.3 degrees.

Mr Carlyon said 47 millimetres of rain fell in Melbourne last month, which was also in line with the city's long-term average.

In contrast, the city received just 13.6 millimetres of rain in January last year and 7.6 millimetres in 2013.

Melbourne is expected to have a cool and drizzly start to the week, with rain and a top of 22 degrees forecast for Monday.

Conditions are expected to improve heading into the weekend, however, with the weather bureau forecasting sunny days with tops of 31 degrees on Friday, 33 on Saturday and 35 on Sunday.