It was a chilly Easter over Australia's most heavily populated corner, with temps in southeastern Australia well and truly below the April average over the latter half of the long weekend. So when will it warm up?

Take a look at the image below, showing live temps at 11 am on Tuesday, with the streamlines (small white arrows) indicating the wind direction.

As you can see, cool southerly winds are still being funnelled towards the southeast corner of the mainland from a low pressure system (which you can't see) centred down near New Zealand.

That's why:

• Numerous locations had their coldest nights of 2023 to date, with subzero readings in mountain areas
• It was the coldest morning this early in the year in Dubbo (NSW, 3.3°C), Amberley (Qld 6.4°C), and Yamba (NSW, 12.0°C)
• It was the coldest April morning in at least six years in at least four Queensland locations
• Brisbane woke up to its chilliest morning of the year with a low of just 14.3°C, and the likelihood of an even colder morning on Wednesday (although don’t whinge too much, Brisbanites – you’re still looking at dry days with tops around 30°C all week!)

The Old Brown Snake on the coolest morning of the year......so far. (14c overnight 🥶)#BrisbaneRiver#Brisbane pic.twitter.com/tpGV2mLJwX

— Nick... Molly and Brutus 🐾🐾 (@Knockaboutwok) April 10, 2023

If you look to the left of the image higher up the page, you can see that temps have warmed up in the western half of South Australia. That's an indication of a small pocket of warmer air being pushed south by northerly winds.

But the influence of those northerlies will be fleeting, with a trough and cold front set to inject another burst of cool showery weather on Wednesday to Adelaide, Melbourne, Canberra, and pretty much anywhere in between.

Another brief surge of warmth can be expected later in the week, before yet another front clips the SE corner on the weekend. That front will also deliver Perth its coldest burst of the year to date on Friday before it heads east.

So southern Australia is set for a classic autumn pattern this week. There'll be cold weather which is not quite as cold as midwinter, and spells of mild weather in between which don't have the warmth of late summer.

If you woke up on Tuesday morning, felt the chill on your way to work and thought to yourself "When will this end?" the short answer is you'd better get used to it.