Temperatures dip as low as -11C in parts of Queensland

If you were cold this morning, spare a thought for the folk at Stanthorpe where the mercury dipped to minus 11C as cold weather records tumbled across the state.

A series of weather records have been broken in parts of southeast Queensland this morning with temperatures dipping below minus 11C in some areas.

May records were broken this morning, particularly for residents in Applethorpe where it was a shivering -6.1C, breaking the previous record from May 2006 of -4.0C.

However, it felt even colder than that on the ground with an apparent temperature of -8.3C.

The folk in Stanthorpe shivered through a below freezing morning with Diamondvale B&B Cottages Stanthorpe owner Stephen Michalski taking a video of Quart Pot Creek frozen over.

“It does happen but usually not until July,” he told The Courier Mail.

“Overnight it was minus 11C and at 7.30am it was still minus 6C.”

The frozen Quart Pot Lake at Stanthorpe after temperatures dropped to minus 11. Photo: Diamondvale B&B Cottages Stanthorpe.

Also on the Darling Downs, Oakey was -4.4C this morning, breaking the 2006 record of -4.1C, Dalby had a May record of -3.6C and Warwick also at -4.9C.

The temperature was -3.4C at Wellcamp Airport just out Toowoomba.

In Brisbane, the temperature was 8.6C just before 6am, with an apparent temperature of 5.5C.

It was colder at Brisbane Airport at 6.6C, while it was 6.4C at Archerfield.

On the Gold Coast it was 10.8C at Coolangatta and 8.5C at the Gold Coast Seaway.

It was 10.6C at the Sunshine Coast Airport.

Further west, it was .7C at Charleville and .6C at Roma.

The temperatures plunged in the state’s Channel Country, with the mercury dropping to 4.9C in Birdsville and 3.5C at Thargomindah.

In the north-west, it was 8.4 at Urandangi at 6.20am and 11.1C at Mount Isa.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Lachlan Stoney said morning temperatures may get slightly warmer over the weekend.

“We expect cold mornings like this for this time of year,” he said.

“We tend to get the bursts of cold dry air coming up from the southwest and temperatures tend to plummet overnight under those kind of conditions.”

“It is fairly typical for this time of year, except when you are getting records it’s pretty significant.”

Mr Stoney said it will “warm up a touch” for Saturday morning, but more broken records was a possibility.

Southeast Queensland can expect cloud cover to increase from Saturday with showers predicted for Sunday.