Yesterday we told you how clear skies, light winds and high pressure allowed parts of Australia to shiver through their coldest May morning in decades. Similar conditions prevailed over the southeast once again on Saturday night and into Sunday, bringing an even colder morning to some regions.
Conditions were particularly frigid in New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory. Some of the more impressive temperatures and stats include:
- Newcastle (6.5°C) – coldest May morning in 22 years
- Gunnedah (-4.3°C) – coldest May morning in 19 years
- Bega (-1.9°C) – coldest May morning in 18 years
- Bourke (-0.6°C) and Moree (-0.7°C) – coldest May morning in 12 years
- Tamworth (-4.8°C) – coldest morning of any month in five years
- Canberra’s -5.4°C was the coldest morning since last winter
The suburbs of Sydney didn’t escape the cold. Bankstown dropped to a knee-knocking 0.7°C on Sunday morning. The suburb has averaged a minimum of 3.6°C in the last three days, making it the coldest three-day run in May in 47 years. Some Sydney suburbs even ventured into the negatives including –2.1°C at Camden (coldest May morning in 14 years and coldest morning of any month in close to four years) and -0.1°C at Campbelltown (coldest May morning in 12 years).
Image 1: Minimum temperature in NSW at 6:30am on Sunday.
The Harbour City itself cooled to 6.7°C on Sunday morning, after a low of 6.9°C on Saturday. This made it the coldest pair of May mornings at Sydney Observatory Hill in 41 years. Sydney airport had their coldest May morning in 36 years with the mercury dipping to 5.6°C. Frost even formed in local parks just a few kilometres from Sydney Airport, including in Bardwell Valley as shown below. Dog pic included for your pleasure.
Image 2: A frosty park in Bardwell Valley, Sydney.
Monday morning won’t be as cold as recent mornings with a slightly warmer airmass filtering over the southeast along with some increased cloud cover. Cooler mornings will return on Tuesday but are not expected to be quite as nippy as Sunday morning.