Residents across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland could certainly be forgiven for reaching for an extra blanket over Friday and Saturday night — and for electing to stay a little longer in bed the following mornings. It was especially cold across elevated inland areas of northeast NSW, where temperatures plummeted well below zero on both nights.

The coldest minimum across the country on Saturday morning was -9.1 degrees C at Glenn Innes. Other cold centres in NSW and Queensland are presented in the table below.

Table: Minimum temperatures observed Saturday 25th July 2026. It was very cold over inland northeast NSW(Glen Innes)

It was another cold Saturday night and early Sunday morning across northeast NSW and inland southeast Queensland as the mercury again fell below zero.

Image: Sunday (26thJuly) morning 6:00am temperatures. Source: DTN/Weatherzone

Glenn Innes was once again the coldest centre this morning (Sunday 26th) dropping down to -5.8°C. While it was a slightly colder morning across inland southeast Queensland as Oakey dropped to -5.4°C this morning compared to -3.6°C Saturday morning.

The minimum temperature for other locations across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland for this morning is listed in the table below.

Table: Minimum temperatures observed Sunday 26th July 2026.

 Why have the mornings been so cold this weekend?

Late last week, a cold front passed over southeast Australia. In its wake, a cold airmass advanced northward in southwesterlies across eastern NSW, eventually reaching southeast Queensland by the weekend.

A key feature of this airmass was its low moisture content, which suppressed cloud formation over northeast NSW and southeast Queensland during Friday and Saturday — and more importantly, overnight — resulting in clear, starry skies.

Adding to this, rising surface high pressure and a developing high-pressure ridge across inland NSW stabilised the airmass and brought light to calm winds overnight.

The result: clear overnight skies and an efficient transfer of surface heat to outer space, driving those cold morning temperatures.

The images below highlight the expansive area of dry air (low dew point temperatures) and the absence of cloud cover over inland regions of northeast NSW and southeast Queensland during the early mornings of Saturday and Sunday.

A quick note on dew point temperature — it is a direct measure of the moisture content present in the atmosphere. A lower dew point indicates a drier airmass; conversely, a higher dew point means greater moisture content and that sticky, humid feeling familiar to anyone who has spent time in the tropics.

Image: Dew point temperature (moist air [aqua] scaling to drier air [deep orange]), mean sea level pressure (black lines) and cloud cover (light grey) at 6am on Saturday 25th July (left) and Sunday 26th July (right). Source: DTN/Weatherzone.

A temporary reprieve from the cold mornings is expected early in the week, as showers across the Northern Rivers and Northern Tablelands districts of NSW and Queensland's South Coast district bring increased cloud cover and atmospheric moisture to the region. The relief will be short-lived, however — a cold front moving across southeast Australia mid-week is expected to usher in another round of cold, frosty mornings across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland by week's end and into the following weekend.

Town forecasts for the next 10 days are available on the Weatherzone website (https://www.weatherzone.com.au).

For those living inland across northeast NSW and southeast Queensland, it's not time to pack the extra blankets away just yet — cold, wintry nights remain on the forecast. The good news is that clear skies and sunny days are expected to dominate throughout the coming week.