Qld weather: Southern Qld in grip of freezing temperatures

Southern Queensland is waking up to another freezing morning, with ‘feels like’ temperatures below -9C and some areas experiencing their coldest starts in five years.

Southern Queensland is again waking to freezing temperatures with the mercury plunging well below zero in the southwest of the state and on the Darling Downs and Granite Belt.

Oakey was -5.4C just after 6am, with the ‘feels-like’ temperatures sitting at -9.4C just before 7am. Wellcamp Airport was even colder at -5.7C about 6.30am with the apparent temperature plunging as low as -9.3C overnight.

The temperature at Applethorpe plunged to -3.4C just before 7am with an apparent temperature of -5.9C.

In Brisbane, the temperature plunged to 6.9C just before 7am, with the apparent temperature a couple of degrees colder. The feels-like temperature at the airport was 3.6C earlier, when the actual temperature was 7.8C.

West of Brisbane it was -1.4C at Amberley at 6.50am, with an apparent temperature of -5.0C. At the same time it felt like -2.8 at Beaudesert and -3.5C at Canungra.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Harry Clark said Warwick experienced its coldest start since 2019, dipping to -4.5C and Amberley early morning freeze was the coldest since July 2020.

“We’ve got this deep low-pressure system in the Tasman Sea, and a high over some of Australia. Between those two systems, there is a lot of southerly wind,” the senior meteorologist said.

“So (Australia is) just getting this continuous flow of cold southerly air across Queensland, and that’s going to remain in place for the next few days.

“Currently in Oakey, the current temperature is -5.2C there, and the apparent temperature is -9. So it feels much colder thanks to that slight breeze around.

“The air is quite dry, really, which allows the moisture in your skin to evaporate quite quickly, which cools you down. So it’s kind of like the opposite of humid weather, where it feels hotter than should because of the humidity.”

Mr Clark said southeast Queensland can expect to keep a few extra layers handy over the next week as the cold weather persists.

“Certainly the next few mornings are going to be cold and frosty once again,” he said.

“In terms of when we’re going to start finally seeing above zero degree minimum temperatures across the state, probably around Monday, Tuesday at this point next week.”

Brisbane’s temperature is expected to climb to 21C on Tuesday.

A marine wind warning is in place for most of the Queensland coast.