Queensland weather: Snow at Stanthorpe, Goondiwindi and Wallangarra, Brisbane freezing, far north colder than Melbourne

Snow is falling where it shouldn’t, Brisbane is colder than it should be and the far north should definitely not be out-freezing Melbourne. Surely this isn’t Queensland! WATCH THE VIDEO

Far North Queenslanders have shivered through colder temperatures than Melbourne this morning while snow has fallen overnight on the southern Darling Downs and Brisbane is being lashed by brutally cold south-westerly winds.

Senior meteorologist Jonathan How said it was not common for a Gulf Country community like Kowanyama, where it was 4.9C at 5.53am, to be colder than Melbourne 3000km south.

“We are seeing frost photos from this morning and quite a few zeros or less across central and northern Queensland,” he said.

“So extremely cold with this cold air mass moving up to the north of the state, colder in northern Queensland than in Melbourne, that’s quite remarkable … even the Atherton Tablelands, west of Cairns, got down to about zero.”

He said the cold morning in Kowanyama on Thursday was unprecedented, being the coldest July morning on record.

The blast of polar air which has been persisting for days has seen snow recorded in places like Wallangarra and Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt, and even Goondiwindi on the southern Darling Downs.

Subzero temperatures are being recorded from the southern Darling Downs to Far North Queensland. Picture: weatherwatch.net.au

Mr How said it was certainly cold enough for snow flurries to be seen about the Granite Belt on Wednesday night when it got down to about four or five degrees.

“It was not cold enough for snow to settle on the ground, but certainly cold enough above the ground, so not too surprising we did see some flurries across southern Queensland,” he said.

“It was a pretty cool sight to see, you don’t see that everyday in Queensland.”

Further north, Georgetown, 550km northwest of Townsville, was -0.4C at 7am, but felt like 4C, while nearby at Richmond it was 0.8C, but felt like -3C.

Meanwhile, Hughenden got down to -0.9C and Rolleston was -1.3C.

In Melbourne, the lowest minimum recorded was 4.2C at Ferny Creek, 33km southeast of the CBD.

The coldest place in Queensland for the second consecutive day was Biloela, which got down to -1.6C at 6.45am.

Brisbane got down to 10.9C at 6.30am and an hour later was 11.3C, but felt like 8.7C due to strong south-westerly winds.

Mr How said the worst of the cold snap was over for Brisbane after it recorded its coldest day of the year on Wednesday.

“Even though the thermometer did read about 15C, 16C, with that westerly wind it did feel closer to 8, 9C or 10C most of the day so it was a very cold day across Brisbane and southeastern Queensland yesterday,” he said.

The forecaster said while Friday morning may still be cold, temperatures would gradually rise into the weekend.

“Northern Queensland will get another frosty morning but we do see a gradual improvement in the temperatures, so Thursday and Friday there are fairly cool daytime and night-time temperatures,” he said.

“It was a very cold day across Brisbane and the southeastern state Wednesday, not quite as cold Thursday - we are looking at temperatures jumping up to the high teens to low 20s.”

Mr How said as the cold airmass had shifted across central and northern parts of the state the southeast had warmer air and plenty of sunshine to look forward to.

“We can expect a couple of showers but generally out towards the Toowoomba way and then west of that across the Darling Downs,” he said.

“We do see more settled conditions for the weekend, but still remaining generally cooler than average heading into the weekend across southeast Queensland ... much more calm and pleasant.”