If you struggled to get out of bed on Friday, you are not alone — millions of Australians woke to the coldest day of the year so far, with many surely wishing they could stay under their warm blankets.
Cold Front Brings Record Lows
A cold front sent temperatures plummeting across most of the eastern states, with snowfalls up to 5cm recorded in the alpine regions. Sydneysiders woke to a chilly 9.9C, while west of the city in the Blue Mountains, temperatures plummeted to just 1C in Katoomba.
Elsewhere in NSW, temperatures dropped to 1.3C at Orange and 2.1C in Bathurst, while in the alpine ski resorts it was -3C in Perisher and -5C in Thredbo.
Forecaster's Insight
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Angus Hines on Friday said there was “really, really cold weather across much of southern and eastern Australia last night and into today.” He described it as “the first real taste of winter for this season,” adding that “a big cold front which moved across the southeast Wednesday night into Thursday morning brought some really significant snow.”
Perisher recorded about 5cm of snow, with warnings of blizzards and damaging winds overnight Thursday and into Friday for the alpine regions.
Snow and Wind Across Regions
Snow fell in NSW’s snowy mountains overnight, and some residents in parts of Victoria as low as 400m above sea level woke to their cars covered in snow. Wind warnings were in place for much of the southern east coast.
“Further south from where some of those cold temperatures have been felt overnight, we’ve still got some really strong winds — very strong southwesterly winds up from the Southern Ocean, chilly breezes, wind gusts about 100km/h for elevated parts of Tasmania, eastern parts of Victoria and southern parts of NSW,” Hines said on Friday.
Hines also noted that snow fell at fairly “low levels” in Victoria, with falls recorded to about 400m above sea level, while in the alpine resorts temperatures dropped to -2.6C at Mt Buller and -3.8C at Mt Hotham. Melburnians woke to a brisk 10C.
Queensland Not Spared
While Queensland might be known as the sunshine state, Brisbane residents shivered through a low of 12C. The Gold Coast also dropped to a morning low of 10.9C, while in the west of the state, Applethorpe hit 0C, Warwick 0.3C, and Wellcamp 1C.
“It was a very chilly night last night across NSW and Queensland, with lots of places towards or even below 0C and for some it was the first frosty morning heading into those winter months,” Hines said. “No doubt a few more of those lie ahead in the next few weeks and months.”
“The good news with this one, and I guess any cold snap that happens during May, is it doesn’t last that long. So, it was a cold night last night, absolutely, and a pretty chilly day today with another cold night tonight but daytime temperatures will start to return to something pretty average tomorrow.”
