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Colder than Antarctica: coldest morning in a quarter century for NSW, ACT

If you woke up early in NSW or the ACT this Saturday morning and thought it was colder than usual, you'd be right. Just look at some of these temperature observations across parts of NSW and the ACT: 

Image: Temperature observations in degrees Celsius at 7:10am AEST, Saturday, June 21, 2025.  

In some places, it was even colder than one of Australia's Antarctic research stations. 

"Well, that’s a bold claim," we hear you say. "Where’s your proof?"

Well, dear readers, look no further than a comparison between the minimum temperatures at Goulburn, NSW, and Davis Station, Antarctica. Goulburn shivered through a bone-chilling –10.0°C this morning, which you can actually see in the image above, well exceeding Davis Station's minimum of –8.4°C. This was Goulburn's coldest morning in eight years and its coldest June morning in a quarter of a century.  

Not to be outdone, Cooma also left Davis Station out in the cold, reaching a minimum of –8.6°C just after sunrise today.  

Even our nation's capital gave Davis Station a run for its money. Canberra reached a frigid –7.6°C just before 6am, only 0.8°C shy of reaching Davis Station's minimum. This was Canberra's coldest morning in eight years and its coldest June morning in 39 years.  

And if you're wondering whether the nation's capital was the only place in the ACT to see temperatures below freezing, then look no further than Tuggeranong, which recorded its coldest morning since July 2018 with a minimum temperature of –7.5°C. This was also the town's coldest June morning in 25 years. 

Joining the “Coldest Morning in Eight Years” Club was Condobolin, NSW, which dropped to an icy –5.5°C. Not only was this the town's coldest morning of any month in several years, it was also its coldest June morning in 27 years. 

Elsewhere in NSW, minimum temperatures of note include: 

• Forbes (–5.5°C) - coldest morning since July 2018 and coldest June morning in 27 years  

• Cowra (–3.1°C) – coldest June morning in a decade 

• Temora (–4.1°C) – coldest June morning in seven years 

• Young (–4.3°C) – coldest June morning in six years 

• Fowlers Gap (–0.7°C) – coldest June morning in five years 

• Penrith (1.1°C), Braidwood (–6.6°C) – coldest morning since July 2023 

The reason for these especially cold temperatures? A high pressure system centred over southeast Australia, together with near-cloudless skies and a cold, particularly dry air mass aloft. You can see the combination of these factors in the image below, with the dryness of the air mass represented by dew point temperatures at 850hPa (approximately 1500m aloft) ranging from red (colder than –8°C) to brown (colder than –16°C) to purple (colder than –32°C) to white (colder than –40°C). For those unfamiliar with the principle of dew point temperatures, the dew point is the temperature at which air will become saturated with moisture and condense into dew; the lower the dew point, the drier the air is.  

Image: Forecast mean sea level pressure, 850 hPa dew point temperature, and total cloud cover at 7am Saturday, June 21, 2025, according to the ECMWF model. 

The high pressure system and dry air mass responsible for these freezing temperatures will begin to shift east during Sunday, although the chances of seeing temperatures below freezing will remain quite high for some areas, as can be seen below. 

Image: Forecast minimum temperature for Sunday, June 22, 2025, according to the ECMWF model. 

Minimum temperatures will warm most significantly from Tuesday as a strong cold front brings increasing cloud cover to NSW and the ACT. However, maximum temperatures on Tuesday and Wednesday could be extremely cold, with the potential for blizzard conditions over the Australian Alps, and gusty, damaging winds over Vic, NSW and the ACT. So keep an eye on your local forecast and make sure to rug up in the days ahead!