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Late-week frost covers eastern Australia

Ben Domensino, Friday July 21, 2017 - 13:49 AEST

It's a frosty end to the week across much of eastern and southeast Australia, with parts of four states experiencing their lowest temperature in two years this morning.

A high pressure system drifting over the nation's southeast caused clear skies and light winds to combine with a cold air mass last night, allowing temperatures to plummet.

In Queensland, this morning was the coldest in three years for Mount Isa (0.7C) and Maryborough (1.3C), while Bundaberg (4.8C), Hervey Bay (2.2C) and Warwick (-2.9C) all had their coldest start in two years.

Across the border in NSW, Casino (1.3C) had its coldest morning in three years and Forbes (-4.4C) its chilliest in two. Sydney's eight degrees felt more like four at 7am as wind gusts reached around 40km/h in the city. Sydney's official minimum, discounting wind chill, was 7.5 degrees.

Victoria's Mortlake experienced its coldest morning in 11 years, reaching a brisk low -3.4 degrees. Westmere (-3.2C) and Warrnambool (-1C) had their coldest starts in three and two years, respectively.

Melbourne dipped to a nippy 3.3 degrees this morning, which is three below average for this time of year. It was even colder further south, where Cerberus (0.6C) and Avalon (0.7C) both came close to zero degrees.

Across Bass Strait, Smithton (-1.8C) and King Island (1.9C) in Tasmania registered their lowest temperature in two years this morning. Hobart made it down to 3.6 degrees shortly after 7am, although this was only one below average.

Canberra was the coldest capital city in the country this morning, reaching minus four degrees at 7:15am.

Tomorrow will be another frosty affair for many areas from central Queensland down to Tasmania underneath the slow-moving high pressure system. Canberra is forecast to reach minus six tomorrow morning and Hobart just two degrees.

As of this morning, one of the standout official forecasts for tomorrow is Sydney, which is tipped to reach a minimum of four degrees in the city. This would make it the capital's coldest morning in a decade.

However, it's possible that today's maximum temperature in Sydney will be too high to allow sufficient overnight cooling to reach four degrees by tomorrow morning. Analysis of temperature observations during the last 40 years reveals that Sydney has only once cooled below 4.5 degrees when the previous day was warmer than 16 degrees. This was in July 2002, when a morning reached 4.3 degrees following an 18-degree day. By 1:20pm today, Sydney had already reached 17.4 degrees.

Penrith in western Sydney is forecast to reach minus two degrees tomorrow morning, which would be the lowest temperature in the site's 22 year history.

- Weatherzone

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