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Dry fronts equating to frosty nights

Brett Dutschke, Friday June 30, 2017 - 18:39 AEST

This winter so far has been one of dry fronts for southeastern Australia, bringing little rain and priming the air for frosty nights to follow.

This week has been no exception. A front which moved through during Sunday brought light showers and highland snow but sheltered areas away from the ranges just cold, dry winds.

With a high pressure system moving in rapidly behind it, just like one has several times previously this month, nights have been chilling as much as five-to-10 degrees below average.

Last night was the coldest night in four years at Ross (-6.6 degrees), Lake Leake (-6.2) and Campania (-2.8) in Tasmania, three years at Bega (-2.2) in NSW and two years in other parts of NSW including Perisher, Wagga Wagga, Orange and Forbes.

Ross' minus 6.6 degrees was the coldest it has been in June in 19 years. Wagga Wagga's minus 3.3 was an 11-year low for June.

Looking ahead, tonight looks relatively mild due to cloud streaming in from the interior where it is raining but the frigid nights will return later in the week.

A front during Thursday will be similar to the past few, fairly dry, delivering little in the way of rain and snow. A high quickly taking over will cause skies to clear and winds to calm, making temperatures drop five-to-10 degrees below average again.

Some places are likely to experience their coldest nights and mornings so far this year, with frost a chance in the suburbs of Hobart, Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney. Severe frost is likely over some inland areas.

Heading into next week there are signs of a more typical winter weather pattern developing, fronts becoming more frequent and bringing more rainfall and snowfalls than recent.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

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