Weather News

Frequent frosts replace absent rainfall

Ben Domensino, Tuesday July 11, 2017 - 15:19 AEST

Locals in NSW may have taken a while to thaw out today after some areas experienced their coldest morning in seven years.

A combination of clear skies and light winds under a high pressure system helped temperatures plummet across the state last night. The mercury dipped as much as seven degrees below average in parts of the Hunter, Central Tablelands and Southern Tablelands districts.

Mudgee dropped to a low of minus 6.3 degrees, which is seven below average and its coldest morning since 2010. Cessnock (-3.4C) and Gunnedah Airport (-4.3C) both achieved their lowest temperature since last winter this morning.

Canberra had a cold start too, although it's been colder earlier in the month. Today's minimum of minus six was only the fourth coldest so far this month, despite being six below the July average. This continues the trend from last month, which was the capital's coldest June since 1984 in terms of minimum temperatures.

The recent run of cold mornings in NSW and the ACT has coincided with a spell of dry weather. This is to be expected, as high pressure systems typically cause both concurrently.

Most locations have received less than 10 per cent of their monthly average rainfall during the first 11 days of the month. Many central and eastern areas have received less than 1mm so far this July.

Sydney's 0.2mm this month as of 9am today makes this the city's equal driest start to July in 15 years.

The southern ranges and Riverina have managed to buck the trend, with cold fronts delivering decent falls earlier in the month. Tocumwal (38mm) and Corowa (52mm) have already picked up more than 90 per cent of their July monthly averages.

It will be another cold morning and dry day for most areas tomorrow under a stubborn high pressure system. However, increasing wind and cloud will bump minimums up at the end of the working week and even produce a few showers west of the ranges. Once again, the heaviest falls are likely to be over the southern inland.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

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