WINTER has come early across southern and eastern Australia, with a number of centres recording their lowest maximum May temperatures on record.
While it has sent people shivering the vigorous cold front has also been beneficial, particularly in South Australia and north-west Victoria where isolated falls of up to 70mm and general falls of 20-30mm have constituted an autumn break.
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Much of South Australia had been dry and farmers were waiting for opening rain, but there were welcome falls of up to 40mm in the Upper Mid North, 50mm on the Adelaide Plains, 40mm in the SA Mallee and 70mm in the Adelaide Hills.
Across the border, there was 15-30mm over much of the Victorian Mallee continuing the near ideal start for many croppers in that region.
The Bureau of Meteorology said a strong cold front and associated low pressure system was responsible for the intensely cold conditions and heavy cloud.
Weatherzone reported parts of southern NSW, such as Cooma, 4.1 degrees and Bega, 11.1 degrees, had experienced their coldest May day on record as the heavy cloud meant there was no chance for conditions to warm up in the short amount of daylight hours.
Maximums across much of southern Australia were 8-10 degrees colder than average for the time of year.
And the conditions are settling in, giving a dose of mid-winter in late autumn.
In the Wimmera in Victoria Horsham is forecast to only get to 13 degrees once in the next eight days, with temperatures hovering around 7-8 degrees below May averages.
Snow has fallen down to 600 metres and the BOM is forecasting snow on parts of NSW's Central Tablelands and in the Grampians, Macedon Ranges and Dandenongs in Victoria, with up to 50cm of snow possible in the Alps.
The other major feature of the weather event has been strong winds.
The BOM currently has a warning for strong winds in excess of 90 kilometres an hour all the way from southern Queensland right down through NSW and into SA and Victoria.
Stormy conditions and strong winds have caused significant damage already, especially in locations such as the Hunter Valley in NSW, Adelaide and the Adelaide Plains in SA and south-east Queensland.
Scone in the Hunter Valley recorded wind in excess of 100kph, while Applethorpe, in Queensland's Granite Belt, had gusts over 80kph.
Gregor Heard
Gregor Heard is Fairfax Ag Media's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his ten years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector. Away from work, he is a keen traveller, having spent his long service leave last year in Spain learning the language.
Gregor Heard is Fairfax Ag Media's national grains industry reporter, based in Horsham, Victoria. He has a wealth of knowledge surrounding the cropping sector through his ten years in the role. Prior to that he was with the Fairfax network as a reporter with Stock & Land. Some of the major issues he has reported on during his time with the company include the deregulation of the export wheat market, the introduction of genetically modified crops and the fight to protect growers better from grain trader insolvencies. Still involved with the family farm he is passionate about rural Australia and its people and hopes to use his role to act as an advocate for those involved in the grain sector. Away from work, he is a keen traveller, having spent his long service leave last year in Spain learning the language.
