Canberra shivers on coldest September morning on record as southeastern Australia records freezing temperatures | Australia Weather

Much of southeastern Australia will experience freezing temperatures tonight, with another cold morning expected on Tuesday, followed by a rise in temperatures.

Canberra experienced its coldest September morning on record, with a temperature of -6.9C on Monday. The previous September record of -6.8C was set 12 years ago in 2012.

Monday was the coldest morning temperature in Canberra since June last year.

Snow also fell in the hills around Canberra last weekend.

On Monday morning, large parts of inland New South Wales experienced some of the coldest temperatures in the country, with some locations seeing temperatures as low as zero degrees or colder.

Cooma had the lowest nighttime temperature in Australia, according to Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, with a low of -8.2C. Further north, Goulburn hit -6C, Young -5.3C, Bathurst -3.9C and Wagga -3.4C.

According to Weatherzone, this was Wagga’s coldest September minimum in 58 years. In addition, Keith in South Australia reached -4.5C, the coldest September morning in more than 62 years.

Victoria’s alpine regions were hit hardest by the freezing night-time temperatures, with Mount Hotham recording -6.5C. But further away from the Alps, Omeo saw -4.5C and Rutherglen reached -4C.

According to Weatherzone, a minimum temperature of -1.2 degrees Celsius was recorded in Walpeup in the Mallee region, the coldest temperature in 29 years.

Narramore said the low temperatures were caused by a “really strong” cold front that moved across southeastern Australia over the weekend, bringing snow to some low-lying areas.

“That had to do with air coming… almost all the way from Antarctica,” he said.

“That air spread across the southeast, causing both maximum and minimum temperatures to be five to eight degrees below average (on Sunday), (Monday) and (weather forecast for Tuesday) in the morning across much of the southeast of the country.”

Outside Melbourne, snow fell on Mount Macedon and Trentham on Saturday, as well as on higher parts of the Yarra Ranges.

Tasmania also saw snowfall over the weekend, including much of the central plateau and some lower-lying areas, Narramore said.

“It’s not a record-breaking phenomenon, but these places probably only get snow once every winter or once every two winters,” he said.

The meteorologist predicted another cold night on Tuesday before warming up the next day, with temperatures expected to be average or above average again on Wednesday and Thursday.

“Parts of New South Wales could see temperatures around 20 degrees by mid to late week around Sydney and inland,” he said.

While low temperatures may come as a shock after a warm August, the string of cold mornings was “fairly typical” for September, Narramore said.

“(In) September and October we still see quite a few cold outbreaks at this time of year.”