Residents of the Northern Territory’s Top End and adjacent parts of Western Australia have endured their coldest nights of the year, with minimum temperatures plunging several degrees below the July average.
Everything is relative in the way we experience weather, and Darwin locals would have been pulling the blankets and doonas out of the cupboard as the mercury in the city fell to 16.7°C overnight, after a low of 16.5°C the night before.
These were the first two nights of 2026 to date where the mercury fell below 17 degrees.
While Darwin’s record July (and annual) low of 10.4°C (set in 1942) wasn’t threatened, the last two nights were still well below the July average minimum of 19.3°C, in what is typically the year’s coldest month for both maximums and minimums.
Widespread cold nights in northern Australia
Over the border in Western Australia’s Kimberley region, the weather station on Australian Defence Force land at Yampi Sound, near Derby, recorded an overnight minimum of 4.4°C, after a low of 4.6°C on Wednesday morning – the year’s coldest nights to date.
No statistically meaningful averages are available for Yampi Sound as the station only opened in 2019, but it’s worth noting that in August 2024, the site registered Australia’s hottest winter temperature on record with a maximum of 41.6°C.
Numerous subzero readings have also been registered this week in the inland regions of the NT and Queensland and northern WA.
Alice Springs had a run of five sub-zero nights from Saturday through to Wednesday morning. The Sunday minimum of -3.2°C was comfortably the year’s coldest to date although it was still a way off the July (and annual) record low of -7.5°C, set in 1976.
Queensland registered its coldest night of the year to date on Sunday when the Darling Downs town of Oakey, near Toowoomba, recorded a minimum of -5.4°C.
Oakey’s record July low is -7.2°C, set in 1982. That was an El Niño year like this one, which typically increases the likelihood of dry winter conditions and cold minimums in inland Qld.
Why have minimums in northern Australia been so low this week?
Image: Synoptic chart at 10 am (AEST) on Thursday, July 30, 2026. Source: Weatherzone.
Winter took a while to get going in 2026, with much of June dominated by tropical air pushing southwards across the country from waters north of Australia.
In late July, and particularly this week, we have reverted to a more typical winter weather pattern, with southern airmasses influencing weather in the north, as air circulates around strong high pressure systems located over southern Australia, like the one in today’s synoptic chart (above).
Will Darwin nights remain "cold" for the rest of the week?
The good news for Darwin locals is that minimums in coming nights should be a few degrees warmer than the last two nights, as air passes over the warm waters of the Gulf of Carpentaria before reaching the city, with an associated rise in humidity and overnight temperatures.