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Cold morning in the southwest

Ben Domensino, Saturday May 5, 2018 - 14:26 AEST

It was a frosty and smoky start to Friday in Australia's southwest, with some places experiencing their lowest temperatures since last winter.

A high pressure system passing over Western Australia's South West Land Division caused clear skies and light winds during Thursday night. These conditions allowed the previous day's warmth to efficiently radiate away from the ground, sending the mercury plunging lower than it has in more than six months.

The lowest temperatures were recorded over inland areas of the South West Land Division and Goldfields district, where Norseman dipped to 0.2 degrees and Southern Cross reached 0.5 degrees. This was the coldest morning since September at both locations.

It was coldest May night in six years for parts of the Central Wheat Belt and Gascoyne, including Kellerberrin (0.5 of a degree), Beverley (1.6 degrees) and Murchison (4.0 degrees).

Perth's low of six degrees on Friday morning was the city's coldest start since October and about four below average for this time of year.

The calm conditions overnight also allowed a temperature inversion to form, which is an invisible boundary in the lower atmosphere between a layer cold air at the surface and warmer air aloft.

The inversion caused smoke from numerous controlled burn offs in the state's west to become trapped near the ground well into the morning.

The smoke will clear Perth and surrounding areas as the day progresses, while minimum temperatures are set to climb over southern WA from tomorrow as the high pressure system moves further east.

- Weatherzone

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