Winter is well and truly here and the icy temperatures which have descended across many parts of the country will have plenty of grey nomads turbocharging their plans to head north.
Clear skies have seen the mercury plunge in multiple states … and we ain’t seen nothin’ yet.
“The temperature is dropping very quickly with no blanket of cloud to prevent that heat escaping,” said Sky News Australia Meteorologist, Alison Osborne. “Overall, most of the country is expecting clear winter nights this week … what this means is very cold winter nights, temperatures dropping quickly as soon as the sun goes down.”
Sky News reports that parts of Western Australia and areas stretching from central Queensland to Tasmania should expect morning frost from this morning through to the weekend, although it says some regions could see a brief reprieve tomorrow due to an increase in cloud and windier conditions.
'Good morning, grey nomads! Maybe it's time you headed north?' PIC: Cizza
Queensland has been particularly affected by the frigid weather, with the Sunshine State recording its coldest night of the year … with the small inland town of Injune shivering through a bone-chilling –4.4°C yesterday morning.
Weatherzone.com.au reports that the mercury at Kingaroy also fell to –3.6°C early yesterday morning, after reaching the same low at Roma on Tuesday morning.
“For those wondering about the coldest temperature ever recorded in Queensland, it was a frigid –10.6°C and it occurred twice in the 1960s, once at Stanthorpe on the Granite Belt and once at the nearby Heritage weather station,” said weatherzone.com.au. “The coldest temperature ever recorded in Australia was –23°C at the NSW ski village of Charlotte Pass on June 29, 1994 … so, if you needed the heavy doona in Queensland last night, maybe that statistic will provide a little cold comfort.”
To rub salt in the wounds of grey nomads still travelling, relatively speaking, in the south, the Bureau of Meteorology says temperatures above the Tropic of Capricorn are sitting on, or slightly above, the average for this time of year.
The ABC reports that Cairns and Port Douglas are forecast to reach 28 degrees today.
On the coast north of Cairns, Ellis Beach Oceanfront Holiday Park manager Nick Giampietro, told the ABC the weather was beautiful, with people still swimming in the sea and the pool.
“It’s really busy at the moment, most of our powered sites are booked” he said. “Being our peak season, it’s chaotic up here … we’ve got all the southerners up here getting away from the cold weather down there.”
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Have been in Darwin for a bit over a month now. It was still a little humid when we arrived, but now the weather is ideal. The caravan parks are starting to bulge at the seams as more and more Southerners migrate north. Even with the influx of tourists, Darwin itself still has very little traffic congestion and has maintained the laid back, relaxed atmosphere it is known for.
Most of the holiday makers here are planning on staying until August at least. Hopefully I will still be one of them. Sure beats freezing the you know whats off a brass monkey.
I’m enjoying the warmth. Vote 1 for the heat.
Robert
Currently in Cowra with forecast of -1 deg C on Sat night. Lucky the diesel heater works well and economically.
At Moonbah out of Jindabyne staying on after a petsit, now doing some partime farm work to augment the pension
Mornings rather brisk and my one and only water pipe frozen most mornings with frosts so have to remeber to fill up the jug the night before. The diesel heater takes a while to warm up the 15″ poptop before I decide to get up. but the galley end of the van is still a bit chilly.
nearest weather stations
Cooma 7am this morning -5 feels like -10
Perisher warmer! at 0, -6