Overnight, Australia was subjected to subzero temperatures that reached as low as -6.5 degrees Celsius, with forecasters predicting that the frigid conditions will persist.
The mercury has been forced to plunge and certain regions of Australia are experiencing some of the coldest beginnings to winter in decades as a result of an icy polar blast that is currently sweeping over the country.
The apparent temperature dropped to -6.5 degrees Celsius at Warwick, -6.2 degrees Celsius in Toowoomba, and -5.3 degrees Celsius in Roma as Queensland shivered through a chilly morning.
While sections of New South Wales continue to be coated in snow, making it the “greatest snow season” in 20 years, the temperature in Brisbane will drop to a low of 6 degrees Celsius for the rest of the week, which is the lowest temperatures the capital of Queensland has seen in early June since 1904.
Residents of Sydney captured on video what it was like to get up in the morning and discover their vehicles with thin flakes of ice covering them.
One local householder found that their windshield wiper was permanently attached to the booth of their vehicle.
Jonathan How, a senior meteorologist with the Bureau of Meteorology, advised locals that they should prepare themselves for the cold temperatures to persist for some time.
Mount Hotham and Falls Creek each received almost a metre of snowfall, which is a record. Mount Buller received 73 centimetres of snowfall, which is the greatest in more than two decades.
Resorts in New South Wales are expected to receive the most snow since 1968. An area of high pressure to the south of Adelaide has become stationary and is responsible for directing arctic air from the South Pole directly towards Australia.
On Saturday, the temperature in Hobart is expected to drop to 4 degrees, and snow is even expected on the beaches that are located in the southern part of the Apple Isle.
These conditions, coupled with an incoming surge of cold, dry air, will combine to keep temperatures on the chilly side until the weekend following the next one.
On Tuesday of the next week, the temperature in Melbourne is expected to reach 5 degrees Celsius, while Canberra is expecting it to be a frigid -5 degrees.
