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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
National
Olivia Ireland

This could be Canberra's record breaking winter

Kobie Chen has found it extremely cold. Picture: James Croucher

While Canberrans feel confident about their management of the cold, this winter period may become more challenging as it's predicted to be one of the coldest seasons in decades.

Braddon resident Kobie Chen moved to the capital almost six years ago and said these first two weeks of winter have been the worst he has ever experienced.

"I live in a sharehouse that's really difficult to heat up without blowing electricity costs, so me and my housemates are in puffer jackets inside all the time," he said.

"I can't believe how cold it has been considering it's only the beginning of winter."

Retired meteorologist and honorary lecturer at the Australian National University Clem Davis crunched the numbers and found it could be the coldest first two weeks.

"This cannot be verified until the end of the month but it's looking like it could be the coldest first two weeks of winter on record," Dr Davis said.

The average maximum temperature since June 1 to this Tuesday in Canberra was 10.4 degrees Celsius and according to Dr Davis "the record is 10.6 in 1946".

The average for the first two weeks of winter in June last year was 12.9 degrees Celsius, some 2.5 degrees higher than the current average this year.

It will likely be at the end of the month when we know if the first two weeks have broken records officially, Dr Davis points to the main reason for such low maximum temperatures is the "southerly and south-westerly winds".

"That cold front that we got came through with the cold conditions up from the Antarctic area, so we had a cold front that brought in some very cold southerly air and that's what brought all the snow as well," he said.

It's expected to warm up a bit in the coming days for the weekend at "more average temperatures" of 13 or 14 degrees.

"The forecast maximum for tomorrow is 12 while it's only been about eight on Tuesday and then we're looking at 13 and 14 on Friday and over the weekend," Dr Davis said.

While the maximum temperatures in Canberra have been extremely low, Dr Davis said the minimum temperatures aren't yet breaking records and are relatively normal.

"That's probably been a result of the cold winds, so the week when we got wind tends to keep the minimum up," he said.

Whether this cold spell will continue, Dr Davis said it was hard to tell as "forecasts don't go beyond seven days" however "all you can say is July is our coldest month".

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