Winter blast: Coldest day in years for parts of Australia
Source: Bureau of Meteorology
Parts of south-east Australia have shivered through their coldest June morning in years thanks to a chilly snap.
Temperatures fell below zero in NSW, Victoria, the ACT, Tasmania, and South Australia, while parts of Queensland dropped to zero.
Many places had their coldest day in as much as a decade, despite it only being the first week of winter, according to forecaster Weatherzone.
The lowest temperatures in each state were in Thredbo (NSW) -6.9 degrees, Mount Hotham (Victoria) -6 degrees, Canberra (ACT) -4.6, Cressy (Tasmania) -4.3, Loxton (SA) -2.3 and Oakey (Queensland) zero.
Ballarat’s -4.4 was the regional Victorian city’s lowest temperature in 10 years and its coldest June morning since 1996, said Weatherzone.
“Wangaratta (-4.7 degrees) and Hay (-4.8 degrees) also had their coldest morning in eight years,” it wrote.
“Canberra (-4.6 degrees), Sydney (8.3 degrees) and Brisbane (11.3 degrees) all had their coldest morning so far this year.
“In Sydney, the cold and dry air combined with fresh winds to make the temperature feel like 1 degree between 6am and 8am on Thursday.
“While this was a teeth-chattering chill for Sydneysiders, it was almost balmy compared to Canberra’s feels-like temperature of -8 degrees at 7.30am.”
Weatherzone said the big chill was caused by a combination of clear skies, light winds, lingering cold and dry air in the wake of a front.
“Friday will be another cold and frosty morning in southeastern Australia as mostly clear and calm conditions persist under a high pressure ridge,” it said.
“However, temperatures won’t be quite as cold as Thursday morning.”
The weather bureau has issued a string of front and grazier warnings across the southern states for Friday morning. And no relief is in sight.
“A series of cold fronts will then bring more cold air, showers and snow to south-eastern Australia over the King’s Birthday long weekend,” Weatherzone wrote.
“This barrage of wintry weather means that some of the areas that saw frost on Thursday morning will be covered with snow over the weekend.”
