Sydney endures coldest night in 61 years

Sydney has recorded its coldest June night in 61 years, with the western suburbs
shivering under a vast white blanket as the mercury dipped below freezing.
Motorists scraped ice off their windscreens and parents wrapped the kids in an extra
layer of clothes, after waking on Wednesday to another frosty day.
At 6am (AEST), the temperature plummeted to a low of 4.3 degrees in Sydney city.
Samuel Terry, meteorologist for weatherzone.com.au, said it was the coldest night in
six decades.
Further west, Richmond recorded the coldest temperature across Sydney - a biting 5
degrees below.
It has been a week of record lows, with the city dropping to 4.7C overnight on Tuesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) said a colder June temperature hadn't been recorded
since 1983.
Mr Terry said a chilly streak like Sydney's last four nights - of consecutive
minimum temperatures below 7C - hadn't happened since 1986.
"We've seen a couple of cold fronts push through the southeast over the last week or
so," he said in a statement.
"Even though none of these fronts were particularly vigorous, the cumulative effect
has been to prolong the cold.
"Another important feature has been the dryness of the air. This has allowed
temperatures to plummet overnight."
BoM spokesman Stephen Stefanac said the icy cold conditions originated from
Antarctica a few days ago.
"There's been a persistent ridge of high pressure over NSW and a lot of cold air is
lying around underneath this ridge," he told AAP.
Wednesday night and Thursday morning were likely to be just as bitingly cold but
from Friday onwards it should get warmer, Mr Stefanac said.
"There is a little bit more cloud coming into the picture and that would have the
effect of creating warmer nights."
Mr Terry said the big freeze was not an omen for a bad winter.
"People may be worried that the recent chill means that the rest of winter will be
really cold, but climate indicators are pointing towards a near-or-above average
next few months in terms of temperatures," he said.



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