Melburnians braved the cold as the city woke to a foggy and freezing morning on Thursday.Credit:Chris Hopkins
Along the south-eastern seaboard,a slow-moving high-pressure system over Tasmania was extending a high-pressure ridge over Victoria,resulting in clear skies and light winds overnight,Efron said.
“And so that’s allowing the temperature to plummet across the state,given the absence of that cloud.”
Weatherzone’s Ben Domensino said the atmosphere above eastern Antarcticastarted to warm abruptly during the middle of July.
“This warming initially started in the polar stratosphere,around 30 to 40 kilometres above eastern Antarctica,but its influence has sincefiltered down towards the surface in the past fortnight,” he said.
Frozen park.Credit:Matt Golding
“When the air above Antarctica gets warmer than usual during winter,it can weaken and destabilise the southern hemisphere’s polar vortex. This weakening of the polar vortex causes the westerly winds that flow around Antarctica to expand towards the equator,allowing polar air masses to spread further into the mid-latitudes.”
Southern Australia can expect some marginal relief from icy temperatures over coming days,the bureau says.
Sydney is forecast to be sunny and hit 18 by the weekend. In Melbourne,showers will fall at the weekend and top temperatures of 15 are predicted.
In Perth,showers will ease by the weekend and sunny conditions will again prevail,while Hobart will remain cold and wet.
Get to the heart of what’s happening with climate change and the environment.Sign up for our fortnightly Environment newsletter.