Cold weather over Australia’s south-east to linger as high pressure nudges national records

Peter Hannam
·4-min read
<span>Fog shrouds Flemington Road in Melbourne on Thursday morning. Cold weather is forecast for coming days, the BoM says.</span><span>Photograph: Diego Fedele/EPA</span>
Fog shrouds Flemington Road in Melbourne on Thursday morning. Cold weather is forecast for coming days, the BoM says.Photograph: Diego Fedele/EPA

The frigid weather gripping parts of south-eastern Australia will linger into next week as a giant high pressure system dominates the region and nudges national records.

Melbourne’s overnight temperature dipped to 1.3C on Thursday after Wednesday morning’s 1C reading, making it the coldest couple of days for the Victorian capital in two years, according to Yoska Hernández, a Weatherzone meteorologist.

A number of sites in the Melbourne region dropped below 0C on Thursday morning. Viewbank near Heidelberg was at -1.6C just after 8am. Coldstream matched its name with a -1.5C reading just after midnight.

Increased cloud cover should stop the mercury sliding back to zero in the Victorian capital for the next couple of days. The chill is expected to return for Sunday morning, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting 1C for Melbourne’s city centre.

A large high pressure system over southern Australia is contributing to the midwinter cold. Preliminary readings by the bureau on Thursday morning had pressure readings reaching as high as 1,044.6 hectopascals for the Tasmanian town of Sheffield.

If confirmed, that reading would set a record for mean sea level pressure, beating the 1,044.3hPa level recorded at Launceston on 7 June 1967.

Related: Melbourne shivers through coldest morning of year with temperatures of -1.5C in some suburbs

Sites nearby, though, did not record readings nearly as high.

A bureau spokesperson said that as of noon Aest, the highest mean sea-level pressure recorded so far under the current high pressure system was 1043.9 hPa at Ouse in Tasmania.

“Any higher readings than this are currently being verified for quality assurance purposes,” the spokesperson said.

The strong high pressure system was influenced by a split jet stream over Western Australia and large upper lows over South Australia and the Tasman Sea “enhancing the subsidence into the high”, she said. A large dome of very cold air was also working to strengthen the high, along with natural variability in global pressure patterns.

Hernández said the forecasts indicated the high pressure system was in the 1,042Pa to 1,043hPa levels over Tasmania. The pressure could reach “around 1,045hPa” on Saturday morning, she said.

Melbourne’s pressure reading reached about 1,040.8hPa on Thursday morning, not far from its record high of 1,041.2hPa. Weatherzone has predicted that Canberra and Sydney may also find their records for pressure under threat from the system.

“By early-to-mid next week we expect the high pressure will weaken completely and move eastwards” away from Australia, Hernández said.

The cold weather has been particularly notable for part of Tasmania this week, with the mercury dropping to -13.5C overnight in Liawenee, a record low for the state in July, Weatherzone said.

The high pressure has also contributed to a week of showery weather up the east coast, including for Sydney. Each day until the middle of next week should have showers for the harbour city, with a trough for the west arriving to extend the wet, Hernandez said.

Along with the cool conditions, the high pressure has brought low wind levels for many regions, cutting electricity generation for that source and triggering more burning of gas for power.

Gas storage levels at Victoria’s main Iona site dropped 2.6 petajoules in the week of 17-23 June, a record reduction, the Australian Energy Market Operator said. Over a fortnight, Iona’s storage lost 4.1PJ, dropping from 78% full to 60%.

An Aemo note sent to industry members said gas output from the Longford facility tapping Bass Strait gas had increased to help meet demand. Even so, “Iona inventory decline needs to be less than [0.2PJ/day] on average (6PJ/month) to prevent deliverability risks before the end of August”, indicating supply conditions could remain tight until the end of winter.

Some relief is on the way in the form of a series of cold fronts that will start to cross Victoria from the middle of next week, Hernández said. With more wind generation, there should be less need to use gas-fired power stations.

  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next
  • Up next

Latest stories

  • UK 'weather nightmare' coming with 30mph winds and hellish thunderstorms

    A BBC weather forecaster has told viewers to 'forget' the idea nice weather will sweep in...

  • Mount Everest's highest camp is littered with frozen garbage, and cleanup is likely to take years

    The highest camp on the world’s tallest mountain is littered with garbage that is going to take years to clean up, according to a Sherpa who led a team that worked to clear trash and dig up dead bodies frozen for years near Mount Everest’s peak. The Nepal government-funded team of soldiers and Sherpas removed 11 tons (24,000 pounds) of garbage, four dead bodies and a skeleton from Everest during this year's climbing season. Ang Babu Sherpa, who led the team of Sherpas, said there could be as much as 40-50 tons (88,000-110,000 pounds) of garbage still at South Col, the last camp before climbers make their attempt on the summit.

  • Hippopotamuses can become airborne for substantial periods of time, researchers discover

    Hippopotamuses can become airborne for substantial periods of time, according to new research into the mammals. Research by the Royal Veterinary College (RVC) found that the animals can be up in the air for up to 0.3 seconds at a time when moving fast. The findings found that unlike other land animals such as elephants, horses and rhinos, hippos exclusively trot when moving, pushing the limits of what giant land animals can do, the RVC said.

  • A ‘potentially historic’ heat wave intensifies along the West Coast, as dangerous wildfires spread

    An extremely dangerous, unusually long heat wave is intensifying and spreading up the West Coast – and there will be no relief for days.

  • Mapped: Hurricane Beryl makes landfall in Mexico as Category 2 storm

    Hurricane Beryl could make a ‘rare’ double strike in Mexico and potentially impact southeastern United States

  • Grenada minister tells UN: hurricane-devastated Islands need anything for `a human being to survive'

    The minister for the two islands in Grenada that Hurricane Beryl first slammed into with catastrophic winds had a simple message for U.N. and other humanitarian officials who asked what was needed: “Anything that would allow a human being to survive.” Tevin Andrews, who was in the devastated island of Carriacou Friday where Beryl first made landfall as the earliest category 4 storm in the Atlantic, also said when asked whether there was flat space for humanitarian workers to set up tents: “The whole island is flat.” Simon Springett, the top U.N. humanitarian official for the eastern Caribbean and Barbados, who listened to Andrews’ call and relayed his remarks to U.N. correspondents said he didn’t want to sound over-dramatic, “but the islands were really dramatically, catastrophically, catastrophically hit.”

  • Survival story as Hurricane Beryl razes smallest inhabited island of St. Vincent and the Grenadines

    Mayreu is one of the smallest inhabited islands of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Hurricane Beryl nearly erased it from the map. “Everything was flying all over the place," Mayreau resident James Alexander said recalling the storm, “I saw a tank full of water lifted up and swirl in the air."

  • Debris Removed From Historic Jamaican Bridge Submerged in Wake of Hurricane

    A cleanup was underway on Thursday, July 4, at a historic Jamaican bridge that was swallowed by the swollen Rio Cobre in the wake of Hurricane Beryl.Video from a See Jamaica camera shows the centuries-old Flat Bridge in St Catherine parish being cleared of accumulated debris.An evacuation order was in effect on Wednesday for areas prone to floods or landslides, or near sea level, gullies, or waterways, Jamaica

  • Weather tracker: Hurricane Beryl causes devastation across Caribbean

    Beryl is earliest category 5 Atlantic hurricane in about 100 years of record keeping

  • Beryl live updates: Storm expected to slam into Texas coast as hurricane

    Tropical Storm Beryl is targeting the Gulf Coast of Texas after dealing a destructive blow to several islands in the Caribbean and the resort coast of Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula. Beryl is projected to re-strengthen into a hurricane before it makes landfall just north of the U.S.-Mexico border late Sunday into Monday morning. A Hurricane Watch is in effect in Texas from the Rio Grande Valley to San Luis Pass, just west of Galveston Island, with a Storm Surge Watch from the mouth of the Rio Grande northward to High Island, Texas.

  • Beryl set to restrengthen into hurricane as it barrels toward US with Texas residents urged to evacuate: Live updates

    Beryl has weakened to a tropical storm but is expected to regain strength over the weekend

  • Here is every adorable baby animal born at Colchester Zoo so far this year

    Take a look at the round up of cuteness from Colchester Zoo's births this year. Every single one is a beauty.

  • Jamaicans hunt for crabs after Hurricane Beryl

    STORY: :: Jamaicans go hunting for crabs stirred up by Hurricane Beryl:: Hellshire Beach, Jamaica"Well when it rains a lot, crabs come up so as much, well, when we get enough rain when the water comes up crabs start (undetectable) earns up. And so we just come out enjoy ourselves and catch as much as we can.""It's my first time coming here and my first time doing this and actually catching a crab. Most people are cowards, which I'm not and I caught one, so big one me.""After the hurricane or after rain, actually, the crabs tend to come up and crab is like another delicacy for Jamaicans, you know. So yeah man, this is just our way of, "having fun" (off screen) having fun, right."The crab hunting at Hellshire Beach was made possible by the passing of Hurricane Beryl, bringing activity and community spirit to the beach.

  • Fusion power could transform how we get our energy — and worsen problems it’s intended to solve

    Some processes that support fusion energy fuel climate change and may harm the environment.

  • Beryl's waves flood Grand Cayman condo complex

    STORY: :: Hurricane Beryl's waves flood a Grand Cayman condo complex:: July 4, 2024:: Prospect, Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands:: Filip GalbavyThe video also showed a flooded parking lot and paths submerged under water, with high waves crashing against the shore. The once-sturdy seawall of the complex has been destroyed, with sea rocks scattered across the garden, emphasizing the storm's power. The relentless high waves and strong winds continue to batter the shore, compounding the damage.Residents and officials are now assessing the full extent of the devastation, with recovery and rebuilding efforts expected to be substantial.

  • Farm welcomes new 'chunk' calf after caesarean section

    Farmers at nearby Roves Farm had quite a dramatic evening after one of their calves needed to be born via caesarean section.

  • Green MP opposes 100-mile corridor of wind farm pylons in his Suffolk constituency

    The joint leader of the Green Party is planning to oppose net zero plans backed by the Labour Government to build pylons in Suffolk to transport offshore wind power.

  • Evacuation orders issued for latest California wildfire amid scorching heat wave

    Evacuation orders have been issued due to a wildfire in central California, the latest among more than a dozen blazes burning in the state amid a scorching heat wave. The French Fire near Yosemite National Park in Mariposa County has burned more than 900 acres since erupting Thursday and was 20% contained as of Friday evening, according to fire officials. Residents of parts of Mariposa County have been ordered to evacuate due to the fire, impacting approximately 1,100 people, according to the Mariposa County Sheriff's Office.

  • UK weather: Heavy rain sweeps country - and it's bad news for sport and music fans

    The UK is set for a weekend washout - with sport fans, concertgoers and commuters facing heavy rainfall and possible flooding. Punters at summer events including Wimbledon, the Henley Regatta, the British Grand Prix and concerts in Hyde Park were also forced to grab their umbrellas as they faced downpours on Friday night and Saturday morning. Rain has caused issues for players in SW19 as well as fans, with the wet weather causing persistent delays to matches on outdoor courts during the first week of the tennis championship.

  • Record-setting heat will continue to torment millions of Americans this weekend

    The weekend is off to a sizzling start as more than one-third of US residents face heat advisories and additional cities are expected to see record temperatures Saturday.