‘Cold start’: Frost could hit as far as southern Queensland after records broken during country’s cold snap

Millions of Australians are in for another frosty morning as a cold snap continues to lash the country.

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jonathan How said clear skies are expected going into Monday night, which will lead to fog and frost for much of the country’s southeast on Tuesday morning.

There’s a chance the frost could creep up into southern Queensland.

NSW is set to experience “widespread frost” Tuesday morning, with minimum temperatures “dipping down to even below 0C” while Sydney is expected to hit a top of 22C throughout the day.

“It will be a cold start for western parts of Sydney,” Mr How warned.

Victoria is also set to experience frost, as showers hitting western Tasmania could also creep up to the southern Victoria coastline due to westerly winds.

“Particularly for Mallee and Wimmera dipping down to 0C with plenty of frost,” Mr How said, with Melbourne tipped to reach a high of 17C.

Queensland will have a “cold start” across the southern inland, with Roma expected to dip down to 2C with frost while Brisbane is tipped to hit a top of 24C.

“But that will mean a warm and sunny day on the way after that,” Mr How said.

Canberra will drop down to -1C with a top of 18C, while the Northern Territory is set to to experience “unseasonal” rainfall for this time of year, with between two and 15 millimeters forecast to fall.

Western Tasmania is forecast to experience showers, while snow will hit areas above 1100m with a top of 14C in Hobart.

Adelaide will drop down to just 3C on Tuesday morning, with frost expected from the Riverland to the air Peninsula.

The state is expected to reach a top of 19C, while Perth will reach a top of 27C.

“Plenty of sunshine with those winds from the interior continuing. We will see clear skies all the way from the south coast up into the Pilbara,” Mr Howe said.

Darwin is tipped to hit 31C, with high fire dangers forecast for Darwin and Adelaide River, Gregory South East, Barkly North, Barkly South, Simpson West, Simpson East, Lasseter West, Lasseter East and Tanami South on Tuesday.

The frost warning comes after Aussies woke up shivering across much of the southeast on Monday morning, with the Bureau of Meteorology heralding a new record low temperature for Canberra.

Temperatures at Canberra airport hit -6.9 C on Monday morning, the coldest it has ever been in the nation’s capital for the month of September.

The previous record low was -6.8C, recorded in 2012.

It was also a very sharp morning in Sydney, with the observatory recording a low of 6.6C.

The record low for the site is 4.9C, recorded in 1945.

Campbelltown, in the outer metro area, recorded a low of 0.5C.

Bureau meteorologist Jiwon Park told NewsWire that Monday’s shivery conditions were the flow-on effects from two cold snaps that had hit the southeast late last week and over the weekend.

“We had a series of cold fronts that moved across the state, the first was on Thursday and then the second one was over the weekend,” he said.

“The weekend one was stronger than the previous one and brought a major cold snap.

“It brought snow to the low levels of southern NSW, places like Jindabyne and the higher peaks of the ACT as well.

“This cold front has moved offshore into the Tasman, while we are seeing a strong high pressure system.

“The wind has disappeared but we are left with a dry and cold air mass and this high pressure system to the west also promoted clear skies and that produced radiation cooling overnight.”

Mr Park said the cold would gradually ease from tomorrow onwards.

“Today will be the coldest morning because the cold snap has already happened and over the coming days we expect gradual recuperation, both in terms of min and max temperatures,” he said.

On Thursday, Canberra can expect a minimum of 6C and a maximum of 18, according to the bureau, while Sydney will likely experience a temperature range of 14-27C.

Mr Park warned that windy conditions would likely hit parts of the southeast mid week.

Other parts of the country also experience some cold weather on Monday morning, with Hobart recording temperatures of seven degrees, according to Weatherzone, and Melbourne shivering through a cool eight degrees.

But like NSW and the ACT, most of the country will warm up across the week to shake off the sharper cold.

On Thursday, Adelaide will move between 10 and 17 degrees, according to BOM forecasts, while Brisbane will range between 13 and 30.

Melbourne will likely move between 10 and 16, while Perth will likely go from 11 to 23.

But Hobart will likely continue to suffer sharp mornings, with temperatures between five and 13 on Thursday and seven and 15 on Friday.