Qld weather: Temperatures drop as South East cops first wave of twin polar blast

South East Queensland has been hit with widespread frost as temperatures plummet thanks to the effects of a twin polar blast, and forecasters warn there is worse to come.

Polly Egerton, 8, has some fun in the leaves as the weather turns cold in Ballandean. Picture: Adam Head

Many areas across southeast Queensland have experienced their coldest day so far this year as the beginnings of a cold snap brought by twin polar blasts begin to have an impact.

In the Darling Downs and Granite Belt region, which copped the worst of the cold weather, Oakey froze at 0C, while Toowoomba copped 2.9C, Dalby 0.9C and Applethorpe 0.3C.

Apparent temperatures, which take into account wind speed and humidity as well as air temperatures, plunged below freezing to -2.6C in Dalby, -1.5C at Wellcamp Airport and -1.2C in Applethorpe.

Further inland, Charleville woke up to a chilly 0.2C, with an apparent temperature of -1.8C.

Senior Meteorologist Jonathan How said there would be frost right across Queensland and over the New South Wales border on Thursday morning, with temperatures set to drop again in the evening.

Brisbane CBD dropped right down to 11.3C, Brisbane Airport dropped to 9.7C and 9C in the Redlands.

“Queenslanders will be waking up to plenty of frost around this morning, but thankfully no big areas of fog,” he said.

“The upside of a cold morning is that it will be a beautiful sunny day today. But we are expecting more cold temperatures tonight, even colder than this morning. So Brisbane will be dropping down to 9C tonight.

“We can expect to see more frost right across southern Queensland from tonight.”

The first frost of the year at Boodua, near Toowoomba. Picture: Charmaine Campbell/CMC Images

Mr How said the earliest New South Wales and Queensland border could see snow flurries would be Sunday night and Monday morning as another cold front sweeps across the southern states from Sunday.

“There is a possibility of snow flurries across those high peaks in the Tablelands and near the New South Wales border,” he said.

“So for the Granite Belt, there will be a watch point for the possibility of some snow flurries around some of the high peaks. It is not incredibly likely, it is more of a possibility.

“The cold blast should be expected to hit Queensland on Monday night and into Tuesday morning.”

Originally published as Qld weather: Temperatures drop as South East cops first wave of twin polar blast