Perisher Valley just registered Australia’s equal lowest summer temperature on record after plunging to -7ºC early this morning.

An unseasonably cold air mass combined with clear skies and light winds allowed temperatures to dive across souteastern Australia on Thursday night.

Sub-zero temperatures were recorded in parts of NSW, Vic and the ACT early on Friday morning, with the mercury also dipping as low as 1.5ºC in SA and 8.2ºC in Qld. These temperatures were about 5 to 10ºC below average for early summer.

The coldest place in the country on Friday morning was the mainland Alps, where several weather stations cooled below -4ºC.

Perisher Valley’s low of -7.0ºC just after 5:30am on Friday was the equal lowest summer temperature on record in Australia. The same temperature was observed at Perisher in January 1979 and at Charlotte Pass in December 1999.

Friday morning’s record-equalling low temperature in southeastern Australia was a huge contrast to the searing summer heat that is gripping the country’s north this week.

About 14 hours before Perisher hit -7ºC, the outback Qld town of Camooweal was sweating through 44.5ºC. This made for an impressive national temperature range of 51.5ºC in less than 24 hours.