A WINTER blast arrived last week bringing freezing temperatures and widespread frost across the Myall Coast Region on Friday morning.

The thick frost blanketed the area creating images that resembled white snow fields stretching in all directions from Karuah to Wootton and out to Stroud.

Les Malone from Bulahdelah said the temperature was minus two when he arrived at work on frosty Friday last week.

“This has been the coldest morning in 25 years and the most frost we’ve had since Uncle Billy Barry died in August 1964,” he said.

“It was so cold back then that the Oak trees around the river at Markwell were killed and it’s a real surprise to see it that cold again.”

Mr Malone told News of the Area the water troughs in Markwell were still iced over on Friday afternoon.

“We placed an empty bottle in the trough at about 1.30pm and it just stayed there,” he said.

“It didn’t fall because the water was frozen solid.”

Owner of the Riverside Café Troy Harvey said he recorded a temperature of minus four degrees at his home in Old Inn Road last Friday morning.

“The amount of frost was unbelievable, it was a total whiteout,” he said.

“All the paddocks were white and it’s the first time that we’ve had frost up in the hills.”

Mr Harvey said he was greeted by large amount of ice on the tables and stairs of the café when he arrived at work.

“There was ice trickling from the trees it was that cold,” he told News of the Area.

Temperatures as low as minus two degrees were also reported in Tea Gardens on the frosty morning.

The freezing start to the day didn’t stop many locals throughout the region braving the cold and snapping photographs of the heavy frost with many of the images appearing on social media sites.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), clear skies and light winds are the perfect recipe for cold mornings.

The BOM recorded an official temperature of minus 2.5 degrees at Taree airport at 6.30am last Friday morning.

This was the coldest official recorded temperature at the location since July 2002.

 

By Daniel SAHYOUN