Coldest morning of the year in Sydney, Melbourne as records fall

Many Aussies have woken to icy conditions as a cold blast continues to send the mercury plunging.

For those in Sydney and Melbourne, Wednesday was the coldest morning of the year with temperatures sitting at a chilly 7C and 1.6C respectively.

However, the “feels-like” temperature was a lot worse thanks in large part to the wind.

The freezing temperatures have hit multiple capital cities in Tasmania, Victoria, the ACT and NSW this week due to a slow-moving low-pressure system moving across the eastern third of the country, bringing with it icy mornings and even colder nights.

Tuesday was the coldest June morning on record for Queensland’s inalnd, with Tambo in central Queensland hiting -5.6C, Thangool near Biloela was -3.4C.

BOM meteorologist Christie Johnson said a large, low-pressure system out in the Tasman Sea was driving cold, polar air over eastern Australia, up from the southern ocean.

Overnight, Canberra’s mercury plunged to -3C.

While the outback Queensland town of Roma and Launceston in Tasmania shivered through minimum temperatures of -1C.

Widespread frost is expected to develop over the weekend, covering much of eastern Australia and even extending into South Australia and the southern part of the Northern Territory.

Earlier, Sky News Weather meteorologist Alison Osborne said daytime temperatures were still close to average for June.

“We have quite a cold southerly wind over the eastern third of the country, it’s pretty cloud free as well.

“This time of year, when you have a clear sky overnight it generally translates to very cold conditions in the morning because the heat escapes very quickly.”

The mercury is expected to rise towards to end of the week as a band of clouds moves west through to South Australia.