Residents of northern parts of WA and the NT may have broken out the extra doonas a bit earlier than usual this year, as the cold air taking hold of much of the country lately has also made its way across northwestern Australia. 

A persistent ridge of high pressure has brought settled weather across large parts of the Kimberley in northern WA, as well as parts of the NT. In addition, clear skies and calm-to-light southeasterly winds have allowed overnight temperatures to plummet in recent days. 

Figure: Observed temperature map at 6am 14th May AWST. Green shadings indicate temperatures below 20 degrees and blue shadings indicate temperatures below 12 degrees 

Some of the chilly morning temperatures recorded across the region over the weekend include: 

• Fitzroy Crossing – cooled to 9.4°C on Saturday with a low of 9.5°C on Sunday 
• Broome – dropped to 11.5°C on Saturday, falling further to 11.3°C on Sunday 
• Derby – recorded 14.4°C on Saturday and dropping to 11.5°C on Sunday 
• Kununurra – recorded a low of 10.6°C on Saturday, with a slightly warmer 11.9°C on Sunday. 

On Thursday, Darwin recorded a minimum of 17.5°C, also their coldest May morning in 8 years. 

In another interesting statistic, Broome’s 11.5°C yesterday morning was their coldest recorded temperature this early in the year for 24 years. That mark was achieved once again this morning! 

Despite the relatively frigid starts, daytime temperatures have warmed above 30°C. This is close to average for this time of year, welcome warmth for those enduring early starts. 

If you've had enough of the cold mornings, the good news is overnight temperatures are forecast to warm back up in the early part of the working week.