Liawenee just registered its third consecutive night below -12°C, setting a new record for Tasmania.

This week’s weather in southeastern Australia is being dominated by an abnormally strong high pressure system. In Tasmania, this high is causing very stable, dry, calm and clear conditions, creating an ideal environment for profuse radiative cooling at nighttime.

Under the influence of this strong high pressure system, temperatures have been plummeting on Tasmania’s Central Plateau during the last few nights.

A weather station at Liawenee registered exceptionally low minimum temperatures during the last four mornings:

• -12.6°C on Friday, July 5
• -13.5°C on Thursday, July 4
• -12.9°C on Wednesday, July 3
• -10.8°C on Tuesday, July 2

Prior to this month, no weather station in Tasmania had ever registered temperatures lower than -12.5°C during July. However, that threshold has been exceeded three times this week.

While this week has not challenged Tasmania’s all-time record of -14.2°C from August 7, 2020, this is the first time anywhere in the state has seen three mornings lower than -12°C.

It is worth pointing out that Liawenee's minimum temperature records only date back to 1984.

This week's string of freezing mornings created spectacular scenes across Tasmania’s Central Plateau, with various types of frost and other ice depositions forming across the landscape.

Image: Hoar frost near the Great Lake at Brandum on July 3, 2024. Source: @stephen.kettle / Instagram

Images: Glaze on a tree next to the Highland Lakes Road on July 3, 2024. Source: @stephen.kettle / Instagram

Minimum temperatures will start to climb across central Tasmania from Saturday as a warmer air mass spreads across the state. So, while it should still be cold enough for inland frost on the weekend, it won’t be quite as cold as it was these last few mornings.