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Canberra Today 13°/16° | Saturday, March 30, 2024 | Digital Edition | Crossword & Sudoku

Canberra’s coldest spell in 47 years!

If you have been caving into leaving the central heating on overnight despite fears of enormous electricity bills on the horizon and the Carbon Tax bogeyman, you’d not be alone.

This past week, Canberrans have shivered through the coldest run of temperatures in 47 years, according to weather website weatherzone this afternoon, but the next few nights are looking noticeably warmer.

Canberra temperatures dropped below minus four degrees in each of the last seven nights and averaged an overnight low of -5.3. This made it the coldest run of nights since 1965, when there were seven nights in a row which got at least as cold as minus four degrees, averaging minus six degrees. In 73 years of records, the only longer run of nights as cold was in 1962. In that winter there were eight nights of minus six degrees or colder.

Looking to the Bureau of Meteorology figures for the month of July, there have been two mornings where temperatures have fallen below minus six and the warmest night so far has been 0.7 degrees and that was on July 1.

However, meteorologist Ryan White says the current spell of cold nights is nowhere near the record.

“The record, I believe, of consecutive sub zero nights was 23,” he said.

The good news is that we look likely to have a break for the next four or five nights, with temperatures likely to stay above freezing.

There’s also a good chance of rain between Tuesday afternoon and the weekend, when the skies will clear and the nights are likely to chill below freezing again.

 

 

 

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