Kununurra has coldest June in years

Scarves and jumpers have been making a rare appearance across the East Kimberley, with locals from Kununurra to Halls Creek waking up to some unusually crisp mornings.

While the region is known for its dry season warmth and blue skies, recent weather patterns have delivered a noticeable chill.

Several factors are contributing to the drop in overnight temperatures across the Kimberley, according to Jessica Lingard, from the Bureau of Meteorology.

“The recent cool overnight temperatures have been driven by persistent east to south-easterly winds, which are dragging dry air from central Australia into the Kimberley,” Ms Lingard said.

“Dry air allows more heat to escape from the Earth’s surface at night, especially under clear skies. It’s a bit like sleeping without a blanket, you lose warmth more easily.”

The absence of cloud cover has only made things colder, with no clouds to trap the day’s warmth close to the surface overnight.

A high-pressure system over southern Australia is largely responsible for the weather set-up, pushing those dry easterly winds steadily across northern WA, a typical feature of the dry season.

In Kununurra, the average minimum temperature last month was just 12.6C, which is a significant 3.1C below the June average, making it the coldest June in over a decade.

Farther north in Kalumburu, nights have also been cooler than usual, with average minimums around 13.7C, almost a degree below the seasonal norm.

Even Halls Creek and Wyndham have reported unseasonably brisk mornings, with locals commenting on how much earlier they are reaching for jumpers or staying indoors until the sun is higher.

And it’s not over yet.

“We’re likely to see overnight temperatures across the Kimberley sitting 2C to 6C below average for at least the next week,” Ms Lingard said.

Daytime temperatures are also expected to dip slightly, with maximums in central and eastern parts of the Kimberley forecast to stay around 2C to 4C below average heading into the weekend.

While the temperatures are noticeably cooler, they’re still a fair way off historical records.

For those wondering, the lowest recorded temperature for Kununurra Airport in June was 5.1C, back in 1976.

So while mittens might still be a stretch, a warm layer or two won’t go astray for those early morning school runs or market strolls.