An icy cold front from the Antarctic has delivered frosty temperatures for millions, with the frigid weather expected to linger until Friday.
The cold and gusty winds have blown up from Tasmania to the south-eastern mainland on Thursday, sending temperatures plunging across Victoria and NSW.
An icy blast from the Antarctic blew freezing winds across south-east Australia. Windy.com
Several locations across Victoria and Tasmania experienced what felt like the coldest day of the year so far – despite the mercury being much higher than the “feels like” temperature in Melbourne.
The apparent feels like temperature was no warmer than six degrees for most of the day in the Victorian capital, Weatherzone reports.
Those in Hobart, meanwhile, shivered through a temperature that felt below zero for much of the day.
“The summit of kunanyi/Mount Wellington above Hobart had an ambient temperature of -3.2 degrees, but mean wind speeds around 76 km/h made for an apparent temperature of -20.1 degrees,” Weatherzone said.
Mount William in the Victorian Grampians, meanwhile, had an apparent temperature of -8.5 degrees.
The bitterly cold winds were the result of a freezing airmass which originated in Antarctica and slowly moved south-east to the mainland.
The cold front is expected to mostly clear by Friday morning and into the weekend, but the Antarctic winds are forecast to linger for some.
Victoria and Tasmania’s icy winds may remain, with the addition of some scattered winter showers, as a trough from the south-west brings gusty winds, the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Snow seen on Mount Wellington on July 23. Facebook/Dashcams Tasmania
“We are expecting to see some frost across northern parts of the state to start with, and some fog across the north-east,” BoM meteorologist Jonathan How said of Victoria.
In Tasmania, winds with a “sharp chill” are expected to pick up in the afternoon.
Cloudy and rainy conditions are forecast for parts of Melbourne’s south-east in the morning.
In NSW, Sydneysiders will get a taste of the icy blast with a cold front bringing frost to those in the city’s west on Friday.
However, temperatures are expected to bounce back to a top of 17 degrees in the NSW capital.
It will be a frosty morning for those in South Australia too, particularly across the south-eastern and eastern parts of the state.