Brisbane yesterday recorded its coldest day in 11 years, only struggling to 12 and a half degrees. It was also the coldest June day since 1916, when a top of 11.3 was recorded.

For many locations in the Greater Brisbane area, it was the coldest June day on record, although most of the current weather sites do not have a history beyond the past 15-30 years. It was definitely a cold one though and required some searching through the record books.

The reason for the extreme cold across southeast Queensland was the arrival of two different weather features at a similar time. Cold and dry air surged into Queensland during Wednesday night in the wake of a front that crossed NSW the previous day. Mid-level cloud then increased across southern Queensland early on Thursday morning, preventing the warming rays of the sun from reaching the ground.

This perfect alignment was required to create the extreme conditions. Of all the capital cities in Australia, only Hobart was colder on Thursday, with a top of 10 degrees.

A slight reduction in cloud-cover should help the maximum temperature to edge up into the mid teens through Brisbane on Friday but it will still be on the cold side.

– Weatherzone