The centre of Australia is known for scorching hot summers and year-round blue skies but lately, locals have been rugged up as the region experiences its coldest winter in years.
The temperature in Alice Springs has dropped below zero degrees Celsius for 12 consecutive mornings.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology – which has been keeping records of temperatures in Alice Springs for 81 years – that has surpassed the previous longest streak of below-zero days set in July 1976.
The lowest temperature in Alice Springs this year was recorded on July 11 when it dropped to -3.7 degrees.
The highest temperature this month was recorded that same day, reaching 18.9 degrees at 4.30pm.
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Billy Lynch said the frosty Alice Springs nights were set to continue.
But the cold streak was not expected to last much longer, according to the BOM, with overnight temperatures forecast to climb by early next week.
"We're probably at the tail end of this long stretch of cool air," Mr Lynch said.
"It's been below average for so long – I'm sure some people might just appreciate some average conditions for a while."
Plumbers run off their feet
Plumbing businesses around Alice Springs have been fielding dozens of calls a day to repair burst pipes that have frozen overnight.
Project manager at SDA Plumbing, Owen Auricht, said he had to turn away about 50 potential customers one morning because of the huge volume of work.
"Water's incompressible, so basically when it freezes, it expands and when it expands it needs to go somewhere so generally the pipe is what copes the brunt of the frozen, expanding water and makes them pop like an orange."
Mr Auricht said the only way to protect pipes from freezing was to install thermal insulation, commonly called lagging.
"People don't think much of it because it only freezes here a couple of nights of the year really.
"It's not a common occurrence, but when it does happen it does create a lot of havoc."
