Residents in parts of south-east Australia may be dreaming of a white Christmas, amid an unseasonably cold start to the summer.
Snow has been falling across the alps and on the Tasmanian highlands throughout the week, though warmer weather is on the horizon. Thursday was the coldest December day in Hobart since 1964, reaching a maximum of just 11.5C, with up to 10mm of snow falling on elevations above 1,5000 metres.
Temperatures near Mt Wellington dipped to below freezing on Thursday, with southerly winds making it feel colder than it was.
Melbourne has also faced unusually cold temperatures, shivering at a maximum of just 12C on Tuesday, and only hitting 17C on Thursday.
Cold air from the south kept temperatures between one and three degrees below average on Tasmania, with the first two weeks of summer wetter than average on the east coast.
The average temperature in December for Hobart is 20.4C, while in Melbourne it is 24.2C, making this an unusual start to summer.
New South Wales has also faced a colder-than-usual start to the season, with Griffith recording a low of 4.2C on Tuesday, and temperatures only climbing just above 20C in Sydney in recent days.
Brooke Oakley, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said temperatures had been “well below average” but added that the cold will not last.
“There is a low in the Tasman Sea, which is directing cold south to south-easterly winds over the three south-eastern states,” she said.
“For inland New South Wales, the unusually cold conditions are expected to persist for several days, but Tasmania and Victoria will start to see the temperatures warming from Sunday onwards.”
Oakley said most of the south-east of the country can expect “dry and settled” conditions for the first half of the week, followed by potential showers and thunderstorms in the days leading up to Christmas.
Sydney is forecast to face a weekend of rain, with showers expected on both Saturday and Sunday, before clearing up early next week.
Hobart is also expecting a weekend of showers, clearing up by Monday, but temperatures are not expected to exceed 20C until Wednesday.
Melbourne can look forward to some sun next week, with temperatures topping out at 29C on Wednesday, and with a clear weekend forecast.
Oakley confirmed that the La Niña weather event responsible for the string of recent wet summerswill ease by January.
“We are expecting conditions to return to closer to average in January as La Niña breaks down,” she said.
