Time to fire up the wood heater, winter is on its way. Photo: Sus Baskey.
If you think the past few mornings have been a bit brisk at the school drop-off, get ready to give your trusty puffer jacket a really good workout.
The Bureau of Meteorology has signalled the first significant “cold snap” of the season is on its way to the Capital region.
“The past few mornings have been pretty damn cold, and that’s because what we’ve seen is a high pressure system with dry air, which we haven’t had for a while,” senior meteorologist Jordan Notara said.
“The drier the air, the clearer the skies, and the clearer the skies, the colder the mornings get.”
While fog is predicted in parts of Canberra into Thursday, 5 May, temperatures are still going to drop. Goulburn and Wagga are expecting to see lows of two and three degrees overnight on Friday and Saturday, while at Young it’s expected to dip below freezing. Even the coast will get into single digits.
“There’s a frontal system coming across [NSW], which is dragging with it a large amount of very cold, dry air,” Mr Notara said.
“It will generally be very windy on Wednesday as the front moves in, and then we’ll have significantly colder mornings.
“By Friday, we’ll be very close to zero temperatures.”
Mr Notara said the current forecast models could be “underestimating” just how cold it’s going to get, as they base predictions on recent past behaviour, which has been mornings with moister air.
“We’re basically starting to see what I call a ‘flip’ of maximums and minimums,” he said.
“So our summer time minimums are becoming our winter time maximums.
“This really is the start of winter in the region.”
While cold fronts can mean showers, Mr Notara said any rainfall would be light and drizzly.
A sheep graziers warning could be issued by the Bureau closer to the end of the week.
Up in the Snowy Mountains snow showers are also predicted, but daytime temperatures will need to stay low enough to allow the snow to settle.
But a wetter than average climate outlook could spell good news for snow-lovers.
“We have more moisture in the atmosphere, so all we need is a cold front to come across and turn that into snow,” Mr Notara said.
“We’re expecting a very similar season to last year.”
The 2021 Perisher season opened early to skiing and snowboarding after a colder-than-average May.
Original Article published by Claire Fenwicke on Riotact.
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