Brisbane shivers through coldest May mornings in over 70 years

South East Queensland has shivered through its coldest May since 1951 but as the official start to winter looms we could be looking at something totally different. FULL FORECAST

South East Queensland has shivered through its coldest May in more than 70 years.

Brisbane dropped to a low of 8.5C just after 6.30am on Wednesday - the 10th time the mercury had fallen below 10C this month.

“So it’s the coldest month for mornings in May since 1951,” Sky News Australia Meteorologist Alison Osborne said.

“Daytime temperatures have actually been closer to average but the minimums have been the coldest.”

Temperatures across the South East and into Western Queensland on Wednesday morning. Picture: Windy

On May 21, Brisbane recorded its coldest morning of the month at 7.3C - more than 6C colder than the 13.9C mean minimum temperature for May.

At the Amberley station, southwest of Brisbane, the coldest minimum of the month was -1.5C on May 9, well below the mean low of 10C.

Amberley recorded three other near zero temperatures this month. It dropped to 0.02C on May 21, 0.3C on May 29 and -0.07C on May 30.

The official start of winter tomorrow is expected to usher in slightly warmer minimums for Brisbane.

Bureau of Meteorology senior meteorologist Kimba Wong said that minimums will begin to return to average as the week progresses.

“We’ll see another cool start for tomorrow morning, it won't be quite as cold and by Friday winds along the coast will return a bit of humidity in the air, that acts as an insulator for the warmth overnight,” she said.

Ms Wong said she expected this winter to be drier and warmer than average for the South East corner due to a number of climate drivers, including a 50 per cent chance of an El Nino forming. El Nino is where the sea surface temperatures in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean become substantially warmer than average.

“So winter could be influenced by the potential El Nino and a positive Indian Ocean Dipole likely bringing drier conditions than average for most of Queensland other than wet tropics,” she said.