Australia Weather News

It has been a frosty start to the morning for parts of southern Queensland as temperatures plummeted to near 0 degrees Celsius.

The Darling Downs, including Toowoomba, Warwick, the Maranoa, and even north to Carnarvon Range and the Central Highlands, have seen temperatures dip to single figures.

The coldest temperatures were recorded at Oakey and Wellcamp on the Darling Downs, both reaching 0C.

Roma got down to 0.1C, Charleville 0.3C and Applethorpe residents shivered through a 0.5C start to the day.

The Bureau of Meteorology's (BOM) Daniel Hayes said cooler, wintry temperatures were expected in the state's south from Thursday onwards.

"We're looking at a high pressure system that's moving across New South Wales and Victoria at the moment, and that's rigging up over Queensland," he said.

"It's pulling up some quite cold air from the south through those states and into southern and central Queensland [on Thursday]."

Brisbane's minimum is expected to drop below 10C over the next two days, with maximum temperatures reaching the low 20s.

Winter kicks in

Places such as Roma, Stanthorpe and Dalby in south-western Queensland could experience colder than average minimums through to Friday.

Mr Hayes said minimum temperatures were forecast to drop 1 or 2C below the June average as cooler air from the south moved through.

"Some of those minimums might push down to the coldest for the year over the next couple of days," he said.

"In some places we may get to the coolest for the year to date, but probably nowhere near any of our long-term records."

'Like icy knives'

Lifeline Darling Downs and South West Queensland chief executive Rachelle Patterson is riding a bicycle thousands of kilometres on a fundraising journey for mental health support and departs St George this morning on the next leg of her journey.

Ms Patterson said the colder mornings were tough, but riders were prepared despite temperatures that felt like -3C.

"It has been so chilly, not just with the actual temperature, but the wind chill factor has been incredibly cold," she said.

"You can wear all the right clothing, wind-protecting anything, and it just cuts straight through.

"It's like icy knives."

Strong wind warning

Along the south-east coast, the BOM has issued a strong wind warning for Thursday.

"We will see gale warnings coming onto the Sunshine Coast and the Gold Coast with some fairly large waves and swells building in the offshore area down there but, apart from that, mostly warning-free across Queensland," Mr Hayes said.

Dry conditions are expected for the rest of Queensland on Thursday, but showers could form on Friday as moisture is pushed north.

Cool overnight temperatures are forecast for the central-west and north-west parts of Queensland, including Cairns, which could reach a minimum of 17C in the coming days.