Cool snaps from the cold snap

THE recent cold snap had everyone snapping photos of the perma-frost – the icy beauty that settled across the region making the lowlands as white as the highlands. 

The river edges iced up, roads became treacherous and the landscape looked like it had been sprinkled with snow.

In the central highlands 15-year-old Mai Rayner of Hobart even skated on Pine Lake while families walked across Shannon Lagoon. Temperatures of -13.5C were reported overnight in Liawenee on Wednesday, July 4, coming close to the state’s record low of -14.2C set in August 2020. 

According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM), Liawenee felt more like -16 degrees, and was Tasmania’s second coldest night on record. Other temperature observations included -5.5°C in Cressy and -3.2°C in Sheffield (a new July record). 

Despite the freezing temperatures in recent weeks, BoM Senior Meteorologist Angus Hines said the winter months are still expected to be warmer than average. 

“We expect to see some more colder weather day-to-day or even week-to-week much like we did last week with the big low-pressure area in the Tasman feeding those cool conditions which led to those very chilly, very frosty mornings,” he said

Check out the gallery of cool snaps below.