Queensland shivers through cold snap

Queenslanders will shiver through a cold snap of well below average temperatures for the remainder of the week according to The Bureau of Meteorology.

Temperatures have dropped to almost minus 4C in parts of Queensland as a widespread cold snap moves into southern Queensland.

Oakey, west of Toowoomba, recorded the coldest minimum temperature on Tuesday morning when the mercury plunged to -3.9C.

Also on the Darling Downs, residents woke up to a temperature of -2.8C, w while it was -1.4C at Wellcamp Airport and -1.1 at Goondiwindi.

Parts of Queensland have experienced freezing early morning temperatures.

It was still -2.3C at Kingaroy just after 7am, while it was -1C at Roma earlier.

Closer to the Coast, the Bureau of Meteorology’s Canungra weather station recorded a minimum of -2.4C with an apparent temperature of -3.0C.

The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast well below average minimum temperatures in southeastern Queensland for the remainder of the week with a slow-moving high-pressure system bringing cold frosty nights and cool sunny days.

Senior Meteorologist Felim Hannify said there would be a turnaround in temperatures next week, with temperatures well-above average expected.

“It’ll be another cool morning tomorrow and even Thursday it will still be cool across the South East but not as cold Tuesday morning, which was definitely the coldest of the week,” he said.

Cloud is expected to increase, with rain likely over some southern regions.

“As the weather system moves across it will bring more in the way of cloud and showers up to 5-10mm across the Darling Downs and Granite Belt border, but only very isolated, if any, along the South East.”

Mr Hannifey said another gusty westerly change on Friday will follow the cloud cover before the wintery blast ends.

“We’re looking at very warm daytime maximums across most of the state, way above average and feeling very unlike winter, up to 4-9C above average later this weekend and into early next week.”

The extreme cold is also being felt further south, with Sky news meteorologist saying there was likely to be “another dramatic week of June weather”, with “extreme cold” forecast.

Temperatures are expected to reach record-breaking lows in parts of Tasmania, Victoria, the ACT and NSW on Wednesday.

“It is going to be very cold but also very clear. This means widespread frost and some areas of icy, freezing fog,” Ms Osborne explained.

The cold front moves across the state as the Winter Solstice approaches on Thursday.

“Then the days slowly become longer and the sun’s focus kind of moves past the equator up to the northern hemisphere gradually after that until about October 21, ahead of the summer solstice,” Mr Hannify said.