news, latest-news, canberra, canberra weather, how cold is it in canberra, bom, snow canberra, canberra snow, bureau of meteorology

If you ask around, many will tell you it's two weeks before Canberrans can fire up the heaters. But the resolve of those adhering to the Anzac Day rule may be put to the test in coming days with the mercury's rapid drop at the weekend, which brought the chance of snow in some parts of the ACT. Canberrans were given an early taste of winter when temperatures in the capital dropped below zero overnight, reaching a frosty -2.3 degrees at 5.30am on Monday, with a low of at least zero expected again coming into Tuesday. Tuesday's forecast won't be much warmer, with a low of just 1 degree expected and a predicted high of 19. It comes following a low on Sunday of just 3.6 degrees, but the wind chill made it feel as cold as minus 1.7 degrees. The chilly temperatures predicted are expected to be well below the average minimum temperature for April in Canberra of 7 degrees. The cold weather will even bring with it the chance of snow in elevated parts of the ACT such as Mount Ginini. Ski resort Thredbo also registered its first snowfall for the season on Saturday night, with a flurry seen across the mountains after the temperature dropped to minus 2. Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Shueng Wang said the cold snap was driven by a strong cold front that was sweeping across much of Australia's south-east. "It's a large cold front bringing Antarctic air from the Southern Ocean," Ms Wang said. "The cold front is moving across the whole of NSW and the ACT and could possibly move as far as into the Queensland region." Snowfalls were predicted for areas above 1000 metres on Sunday, but weren't expected in the ACT on Monday or Tuesday, due to sunny conditions forecast across the territory. However, the mercury will plummet to as low as minus 3 around parts of Mount Ginini. Across Canberra, light winds are expected during the cold conditions with speeds of up to 25km/h during the day on Sunday and moving into Monday and Tuesday. After chilly starts to mornings on Monday and Tuesday, temperatures are expected to rise to highs of 17 and 19 degrees respectively. However, those maximums will still be below the average highs for the month in the ACT, which is 20.1 degrees. Ms Wang said more regular April temperatures would return on Wednesday. "From Wednesday, the minimum temperatures are going to increase and the maximum will be around 18 to 20 degrees," she said. Wednesday's low is forecast to be 7 degrees but it is expected to reach a high of 20 later that day. Our journalists work hard to provide local, up-to-date news to the community. This is how you can continue to access our trusted content:

/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/fdcx/doc75v8gx4kso25jkw8k3g.jpg/r3_520_5566_3663_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg