South-eastern Australia has been gripped by a deep chill overnight, with another frosty morning on the horizon before temperatures start to rise.
Canberra, in particular, experienced its coldest September morning on record, plummeting to -6.9°C, narrowly surpassing the previous record of -6.8°C set in 2012. This temperature also marked Canberra’s coldest morning since June last year.
The cold snap extended across inland New South Wales, where several locations recorded temperatures at or below zero degrees.
Cooma registered the lowest temperature across Australia, sinking to -8.2°C.
Other notable lows included Goulburn at -6°C, Young at -5.3°C, Bathurst at -3.9°C, and Wagga at -3.4°C, marking its coldest September minimum in 58 years. In South Australia, Keith hit -4.5°C, its coldest September morning in over 62 years.
A strong cold front from Antarctica brings snow and freezing temperatures across south-east Australia.Victoria’s alpine regions were particularly hard-hit. Mount Hotham saw a chilling -6.5°C, while Omeo and Rutherglen recorded -4.5°C and -4°C respectively. Walpeup in the Mallee region experienced -1.2°C, its coldest temperature in 29 years.
A strong cold front, driven by frigid air from nearly Antarctica, has been responsible for these unusually low temperatures.
This front has brought snow to various low-level areas and has caused temperatures to be 5-8°C below average across much of the southeast.
Further south, Tasmania saw snowfall across the central plateau and lower elevation areas over the weekend, though not record-breaking.
Meteorologist Dean Narramore forecasts another cold night on Tuesday, but temperatures are expected to rebound to average or above average by Wednesday and Thursday, with parts of New South Wales possibly reaching mid-20s later in the week. Despite the recent chill, Narramore notes that such cold snaps are typical for this time of year.