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Major freeze hits Australia just days before SUMMER: Arctic storms sweep up the east coast, sending temperatures plummeting – so when will it start to warm up?
- Australians on the south east coast have woken up to a frigid Thursday morning
- Sydney was a chilly 10C after 5am while Melbourne was 7.2C overnight
- Mount Hotham, Victoria, fell to -7C, the coldest temperature ever recorded in November
- The freezing weather is the result of a ‘polar vortex’ rising from Antarctica
Australians on the east coast have woken up to an unusually cold morning as an Arctic storm sent temperatures well below the November average.
The cold weather is due to a ‘polar vortex’ rising from Antarctica, with Sydney reaching just 10°C after 5am on Thursday, while Melbourne froze 7.2°C overnight.
Mount Hotham in the Victorian Alps reached -7C overnight, the coldest temperature ever recorded in the state for November, the Bureau of Meteorology reported.
Ballarat dropped to 1.8°C and Hamilton, in the southwest of the state, reached 3.7°C.
Those living in the country’s capital awoke to a brutal morning with temperatures reaching 5°C in Canberra, while Hobart was 8.9°C.
While temperatures will rise throughout Thursday in the capitals, it will be unseasonably cold for this time of year, with summer just around the corner.
Australians on the east coast have woken up to an unusually cold morning as an Arctic storm sent temperatures well below November averages
Sydney will top out at 20C, Melbourne will only hit 17C, Hobart will have a high of 16C, while Canberra’s highest will be 18C.
Brisbane will experience a warmer day than the southern cities, with the Queensland capital hitting 26C.
The east coast saw some wild weather on Wednesday, with Sydney crushed by a hailstorm after the cold front that brought snow to Tasmania on Tuesday moved north.
Snowfall fell in several parts of Tasmania earlier this week, including Kunanyi/Mt Wellington near Hobart, as Australia’s southeast coast sees unusually low temperatures
The hail also hit Canberra, which was covered in what appeared to be sleet on Wednesday morning.
Weatherzone meteorologist Steph Spackman previously told Daily Mail Australia the cold would continue until Thursday when a high pressure system will push out the cold front.
As the winds go clockwise around this low-pressure system, it taps into Antarctica. It’s dragging the Antarctic air north,” she said.
“Southern winds will drag that cold air even further north.”
Suburbs further south of Hobart were blanketed in snow on Tuesday (above, Sandfly, Tasmania)
Earlier this week, Australia saw a temperature range of 50°C within a 12-hour period, something Weatherzone described as ‘phenomenal’.
In Fitzroy Crossing, in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, temperatures rose to 43°C on Tuesday afternoon.
Less than 12 hours later, Mt Hotham in Victoria registered -7C.
Meanwhile, temperatures on the west coast are hovering around the low 20s.
Perth will top 20C on Thursday and 17C on Friday with showers on the forecast for the weekend.