Today, June 1, marks the first day of winter in Australia. For many, it was a fittingly cold start to the season, with temperatures dropping below zero degrees in four states and territories and even dipping to a nippy 1.1°C in Queensland.

The coldest place in Australia on the first morning of winter was the town of Cooma in NSW, where the temperature dropped to -4.5°C early on Monday morning.

This was only slightly lower than Victoria’s lowest temperature of -3.1°C at Mount Hotham. Other sub-zero places on Monday morning included the ACT’s Mount Ginini (-2.8°C) and Tasmania’s kunanyi /Mount Wellington, which reached -0.4°C.

Queensland was only a few shivers away from reaching zero degrees, with the mercury falling to 1.1°C at Oakey in the state’s notoriously chilly Darling Downs district. This was the state’s coldest start to winter in three years.

The lowest temperature in SA on Monday morning was 5.3°C at Loxton. In the NT, Rabbit Flat’s 6.9°C was the territory’s coldest start to winter, while WA’s lowest temperature was 8.5°C at Jacup.

Image: Lowest temperatures in each state and territory on the first morning of winter 2026. Source: Weatherzone.

Some places in northern Australia had a start to winter that was enviable to those rugged up and searching for a thicker pair of socks in the country’s south. Darwin’s temperature only dropped to 18°C on Monday morning, while several tropical islands saw low temperatures in the low to mid-twenties. A weather station at Rowley Shoals, an island located about 300 km north of Port Hedland, only cooled to 25.1°C on Monday morning.

In Australia’s state and territory capitals, minimum temperatures on the first morning of winter ranged from -1.1°C to 18°C:

• Darwin: 18°C
• Perth: 14.3°C
• Adelaide: 11.5°C
• Sydney: 9.3°C
• Brisbane: 8.8°C
• Melbourne: 8.3°C
• Hobart: 7.2°C
• Canberra: -1.1°C