It's the coldest morning of the year

Temps plummet 8c below the average for this time of year

BRRR: Gympie has woken to its coldest morning this year so far. Picture: Contributed

GYMPIE has woken up to the coldest morning of the year as temperatures plummeted to 6.9c.  

At 8c below the average for this time of year, the shock drop just beat one Gympie received two weeks ago, on April 11, when the mercury dipped to 7c.   

A cold southerly air mass crept in late yesterday swapping average temperatures for an icy blast that had the temperature sitting on single digits just before 1 am.  

From 4am the temperature hovered between 7-8c before reaching its coldest point at 5.40am this morning.   

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Bryan James said the sudden drop could be explained by the combination of a high pressure system in the Great Australian Bight and a frontal system over the Tasman and Coral Seas directing the air mass over south east Queensland. 

ICY: Reaching a low of 7 degrees Friday is predicted to be the coldest day out of the next 7. Forecast courtesy of Weatherzone. Picture: Contributed

Gympie joined the rest of the state with Toowoomba (6c), Coolangatta (10c) and Cooktown (19c) all experiencing their coolest temperature since October this morning.

The lowest in the state was 4c at Applethorpe, while Brisbane's 13.5C was the lowest in five months for the capital city.

Mr James said the cold would not last as the high pressure system will gradually move east and night and day-time temperatures will increase over the long weekend. 

The sudden cold surge still had a few degrees to go before it broke major records - the coldest April day in Gympie ever recorded was 3.6c on April 30, 2008.