Australia weather: May was one of the coldest in Australia yet, here’s why


If you thought the temperatures this month were a little chillier than normal, your feelings are spot on.

May 2023 was, as meteorologists might say, really cold.

In fact, more than 100 weather stations across Australia have registered their coldest May minimum temperatures on record – with regular frosts, snowfall, and below-average rainfall to boot.

The end of Autumn in recent decades has been wetter and warmer than it was in 2021, according to the Bureau of Meteorology. But it seems only half of the Bureau’s predictions of a warmer and drier May have come true.

Weather stations have registered frosts extending as far north as tropical Queensland and the Northern Territory, as well as several snowfalls on the southeast ranges through May, the ABC reports.

ABC meteorologist Tom Saunders said Sydney faced its coldest May in 53 years, with the mean temperate – average of all minimums and maximums – sitting at 15C. That is the lowest it has been since 1970.

The average minimum in the city was 10C, according to Bureau of Meteorology data – which is well below the long-term average of 11.6C. The ABC reports that is the coldest it has been since 1957.

Melbourne was also colder than it has been in years, but closer to the 170-year average. The city’s mean temperature hovered just over 13C.

Brisbane’s May was the coldest in 29 years, particularly at night, when temperatures dropped to 11.8C, nearly 2C blow the average.

The nation’s capital also copped some frosty night-time temperatures, averaging only 0.5C – about 2.5C below normal. Canberra’s mean temperature was the lowest in 11 years at 7.8C, well below the mean temperature, and the city experienced 18 minimums below freezing.

Darwin’s nights were also the coldest they had been in 12 years at 20.8C more than one degree below the 22.2C average.

Perth and Adelaide’s temperatures were slightly below average and the coldest in three years. While Hobart’s May was mostly average.

While temperatures in the capitals were low, the Australian outback was where minimum temperatures dropped between five and 10 degrees Celsius below average, the ABC reports.

Australia’s colder-than-average May sticks out in a range of world events triggered by abnormal warmth.

In the warming northern hemisphere, Canadians have been battling wildfires through their earliest and fiercest fire seasons on record. Meanwhile, closer to the southern hemisphere, southeast Asia has faced a relentless heatwave in recent months.

And, yet, Australia shivered.

According to Mr Saunders, that is because of the position of high-pressure systems over the country.

“Winds blow anticlockwise around highs, and through the month they tended to stall off the south coast of Western Australia. This resulted in a persistent cool southerly airstream across the country.

“The high pressure also brought clear skies, the optimal state for surface radiation loss overnight, and low minimum temperatures.”

Although it was a remarkably cold winter, Mr Saunders said it does not mean the next three months will be just as chilly.

In fact, with the emerging El Niño weather system and the influence of rising global temperatures due to climate change, winter temperatures should “bounce back to being above average”.

The Bureau of Meteorology has predicted June through to August to be warmer and drier than average, even at night – except for part except for parts of inland, eastern and



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