Melbourne and Sydney have shivered through their coldest morning so far this year, after Queenslanders awoke to a blanket of frost across a large swathe of the state’s centre on Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Sydney recorded a low of 6.5C at Observatory Hill, compared with Melbourne’s bone-chilling low of 1.4C.
Meanwhile, Monday night was the coldest June night on record in Queensland’s inland.
Tambo post office in central Queensland hit -5.6C on Tuesday morning – its coldest June minimum on record – bringing it in line with the coldest annual record at that location, set in 1995.
The frosty temperatures were the result of a low pressure system in the Tasman Sea driving icy southerly winds into south-eastern Australia combining with a high pressure system over much of the country’s east, Pumpa said.
The combination had been creating unusually cold conditions since the weekend and was set to ease with clouds expected for the winter solstice on Friday. By Saturday, another cold front would again deliver widespread frost to the country’s east.
