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Frost in the tropics on another Queensland chiller

Queenslanders have huddled through yet another frigid night, with subzero temperatures recorded well into the tropics.

The coldest Queensland temperature recorded in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday was –4.2°C at Oakey on the Darling Downs, about two hours west of Brisbane.

Brisbane itself fell to 6.5°C in the city, making it by far the coldest night of the year to date and the coldest June temperature in 11 years.

But it was much further north that the mercury really challenged the popular imagination of Queensland’s perennially warm climate. Several spots north of the Tropic of Capricorn plummeted below zero, meaning it was literally frosty in the tropics. They included:

• Mt Isa, where the low of –0.7°C was the coldest June night in 44 years.
• Richmond where the minimum of –0.1°C was the lowest for June in 25 years and their first sub-zero night in any month for 13 years.
• Winton, which reached freezing (the minimum was exactly 0.0°C) for the first time in 22 years – less than three months after a record-breaking deluge caused by tropical moisture. 

The map below shows just how far north chilly temperatures penetrated overnight, with the location of Mt Isa visible near the centre left of the image.

Image: Minimum temperatures for Queensland and parts of adjoining states for Wednesday, June 11, 2025.

And for those wondering about Queensland’s warmest spot overnight, that was 25.9°C at the aptly named Coconut Island, a tiny speck on the map about halfway between the tip of Cape York and the Papua New Guinea coastline.

Coconut Island’s average June minimum is 24.8°C so they actually had a warm one by local standards! Residents of inland and southeast Queensland can only dream about that, with chilly nights to continue in most parts until at least the weekend.