The national capital has had its coldest morning in nearly 10 months, with Canberra Airport dropping to minus 4.9 degrees on Friday.
The low, recorded at 6.35am, is the coldest Canberra has been since August 24 last year, when the city reached minus 5.2 degrees.
Happy Friday #Canberra! It's been a freezing start with -4.9 at the Airport the coldest in nearly ten months, since -5.2 was recorded on 24 August last year. Tuggeranong was close behind at a nippy -4.6.
— Bureau of Meteorology Australian Capital Territory (@BOM_ACT) June 4, 2020
Frosty starts and cool days for the next week: https://t.co/rcWTTqfEGspic.twitter.com/bewABW6qEj
Tuggeranong was close behind Canberra Airport on Friday morning, stooping to minus 4.6 degrees.
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Alex Majchrowski said the chilly conditions were primarily down to a high pressure system.
"What we have at the moment is a high pressure system in the bight and what that is leading to is light winds and relatively clear skies," Mr Majchrowski said.
"That's really letting those minimum temperatures drop overnight.
"We [also] had that cold pull of air initially come in with that front ... earlier in the week and that has sort of been lingering."
The Bureau forecasts the chilly weather will continue in Canberra into the long weekend, with Saturday and Sunday expected to get down to minus 4 and minus 2 degrees, respectively. Both days should see maximum temperatures of 12 degrees and light winds, while frost should be around on Saturday morning.
"The frost is just forming if there's enough moisture ... and if those minimums get down all the way to below 0 [degrees]," Mr Majchrowski said.
"On Sunday it should start to get a little bit more cloudy, but there's pros and cons to that.
"The pro is that the minimum temperatures shouldn't be as low; the con is that the daytime maximum temperatures will drop."
Light winds and morning frost are forecast for Monday and Tuesday next week. Monday is expected to reach a top of 14 degrees, while Tuesday is expected to reach 13 degrees. Monday should reach a low of minus 1 and Canberra should be back up to a minimum temperature of 0 on Tuesday.
Minimum temperatures in the national capital should increase slightly on Wednesday with a low of 1 degrees and a top of 14 degrees expected.
