A 59-year-old national weather record appears to have been broken in Tasmania on Monday morning, according to reporting from weather analysis service Weatherzone. The new provisional record for the highest mean sea level pressure in Australia was logged at a Bureau of Meteorology station in the Derwent Valley town of Ouse.
Data showed a reading of 1044.5 hectopascals (hPa) shortly before 10 am on Monday, Weatherzone reported. This figure surpasses the long-standing previous record of 1044.3 hPa, which was set in Launceston on 7 June 1967.
The record-setting measurement is the result of a massive and intense high-pressure system currently centred directly over Tasmania. High-pressure systems are typically associated with calm, clear and dry weather. The strength of this particular system is forcing the air to descend, increasing the atmospheric pressure at the surface.
The practical effect for Tasmanians has been a run of bitterly cold mornings and frosty conditions, a direct consequence of the clear skies and calm winds under the high-pressure dome.
Across the state, the impact was clear on Monday morning. In the Central Highlands, the temperature at Liawenee plunged to -8.1°C shortly after 7 am, as reported by Weatherzone. The cold snap has been felt across the south-east of the country, with Melbourne recording its coldest morning of the year so far.
The record at Ouse is currently provisional and will be subject to verification by the Bureau of Meteorology.
This story was first reported by ABC News.