Has the winter snap happened? The 2025 dry season might be upon Townsville

How good is this weather? Temperatures are down to 20 degrees overnight, the windows are open and aircons are off, but is this a false start or the real deal? See what the data says.

Acadia Conway, 5, and Stevie Lynch, 5, having fun at Riverway Lagoon. Picture: Shae Beplate.

How good is this weather? Temperatures are down to 20 degrees overnight, the windows are open and aircons are off, but is this a false start or the real deal?

The mornings suddenly started feeling refreshing on Monday, April 7, and the days have been steadily getting less hot and humid ever since.

The chilly snap has also coincided with blue skies - Townsville recorded 102mm of rain in the first six days of April, but since then, it’s been bone dry.

The real kicker came on Wednesday morning, April 9, when the Townsville weather station recorded 20.9 degrees.

The last time we all felt 20 degrees in Townsville was November 1, 2024, an entire wet season ago.

Kitannah, 11 and Harry, 2, (front) with sisters Tiffany, 12, and Zoey, 5, having fun at Riverway Lagoon. Picture: Shae Beplate.

The weather was so nice on Wednesday a rash of politicians broke out in Townsville, with Justice Minister Deb Frecklington and Opposition leader Steven Miles both in town for separate announcements on different ends of town.

“What a beautiful day to be in sunny Townsville,” Ms Frecklington said

“You can’t get a better day than this, the rain of course is slowly leaving us.”

Member for Mundingburra Janelle Poole agreed.

“Our third sunny day in a row, and you can hear the symphony of lawnmowers,” Mrs Poole said.

What can past years tell us?

We’ve looked back through a decade of weather records to locate when each year first experienced 20 degrees or lower.

Interestingly, we found Townsville experienced two main scenarios - either the first 20-degree morning happened in March and it was a false cold snap quickly consumed by the heat, or the first 20-degree morning happened in early April and marked the beginning of a six-month cold morning pattern that lasts until October.

2024 - April 11

2023 - April 10

2022 - March 30

2021 - April 2

2020 - March 20

2019 - April 8

2018 - March 12

2017 - April 1

2016 - April 6

2015 - April 22

Kitannah, 11 and Harry, 2 (front) with sisters Zoey, 5, and Tiffany, 12, having fun at Riverway Lagoon. Picture: Shae Beplate.

But, we can hear you asking ‘when does the real cold start?’

A look in our news archives reveals our journalists typically start writing dramatic weather stories about polar air and hot cocoa in late May to early June.

Last year, our first cold spell story was published on May 20, when Townsville dropped to 12.9 degrees at 7am on a Monday.

In 2023, we were telling everyone to brace for winter on May 28 after temps plunged to 12.6 degrees, in 2022 we said ‘teeth were chattering’ on June 10 when the town reached 11 degrees.

Residents were shivering in 2021 on June 11 after a 10.2 degree morning, and in 2020 Townsville experienced a freezing start of 13.6 degrees on May 23.

Originally published as Has the winter snap happened? The 2025 dry season might be upon Townsville