Forecaster David Taylor, who runs the Brisbane Weather and East Coast Weather Facebook pages, warned huge swathes of the country could be hit by snow and unprecedented icy conditions.
Mr Taylor, said to have correctly predicted previous major weather events, told The Cairns Post he tipped this year’s winter to be one of the chilliest ever after observing record freezing temperatures in the US and Britain.
He told the newspaper: “I predicted that six months ago – we’ve already seen what America’s winter was like and Scotland just got hammered.”
Records from the Australian government’s Bureau of Meteorology of the lowest July temperatures ever recorded down under show its capital Canberra could be worst hit.
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There, the mercury has previously plunged to -8.8C.
Hobart in Tasmania and Melbourne have previously measured at -2.8C, while in Perth, Western Australia, temperatures have dipped to 0C and 0.4C in Adelaide, South Australia.
Temperatures in Darwin, the capital in the country’s Northern Territory, have previously dropped to 10.4C.
“I wouldn’t be surprised if there is snow in places where it hasn’t snowed for a long time.”
It comes on the heels of an extraordinary winter in the northern hemisphere that brought freezing conditions to the US and Britain, which is still recovering from last week’s extreme blizzard.
In January, thousands of Americans along the US east coast were left without power after being clobbered by a powerful winter ‘bomb cyclone’ that left at least 11 people dead.
Mr Taylor said his predictions were based using Global Forecast System modelling, checking the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts and tracking sunspot activity.
According to reports, Mr Taylor correctly anticipated that 600mm of rain would fall on Townsville in Queensland on February 28.
This week, he warns a ‘pretty scary cyclone’ will smash into the state after crossing the Queensland coast between Cairns and Gladstone.
By Mary Greeley News
