Tasmanian lakes freeze over as Central Highlands town of Liawenee plummets to chilly -12.9C

Lakes have frozen over with inch-thick ice in Tasmania's Central Highlands as a high pressure system leads to some of the coldest temperatures ever recorded in the state.

Liawenee, an isolated town in the area, recorded an overnight temperature of -12.9 degrees Celsius — the coldest temperature recorded in Australia this year, according to the BOM.

It is also the third-coldest temperature ever recorded in Tasmania.

The former Hydro town has a population of two, which counts a duty officer at the local police station and an Inland Fisheries Service Tasmania staff member as its permanent residents.

Tasmanian photographer Gill Dayton was up early to capture the silent, snow-covered scene.

In a social media post, she wrote: "A wee bit chilly this morning."

"The Central Highlands looked so beautiful, frost clinging to all surfaces, trees appearing like they had white sparkly blossoms.

"Lakes frozen over, swans finding melted patches in-between fog, a glittering white landscape."

The early winter scene has also been captured on webcams in the remote area.

At Little Pine Lagoon, located about halfway between Launceston and Hobart in the Highlands Lakes district, a webcam operated by the Anglers Alliance Tasmania showed ice covering parts of the lagoon.

Lake Augusta was almost entirely frozen over.

The highlands area, which is spotted in lakes is known as a world-class fly fishing location, and is one of Australia's largest natural freshwater lake systems.

[IMAGE: map Lake Augusta]

Trees 'looked like they'd been dipped in icing sugar'

As the managing director at the Great Lakes' Miena Village, James Johns is very familiar with the region's "wild" and "woolly" weather.

He said that was what made the area so special.

"For seven months of the year, you're basically in either a state of it being cold or wet or snowy, and it's just life," Mr Johns said.

"This morning… all of the gum trees were dusted with snow. It looked like they'd been dipped in icing sugar.

"It was just a wonderful way to wake up."

He said the weather had taken a toll on some of the accommodation, with several water pipes having frozen, thawed and then burst. He said they were now being fixed.

"It's just a magnificent place to be," he said.

"This morning we woke up and it'll be a completely different environment this afternoon."

Liawenee the holder of state temperature record

The Bureau of Meteorology's Matthew Thomas said Liawenee held the state record as the location with the lowest-recorded temperature, having reached -14.2C in August 2020.

In a ranking of Tasmania's lowest recorded temperatures since 1972, Liawenee is mentioned three times: twice in 2020 at -14.C on August 7, and -11.7C on August 10, then again in July 2013 when the area reached -12.2C.

Earlier this morning, Mr Thomas said on ABC Radio Hobart's Mornings program there was a chance the mercury in the town could fall even further.

"Yesterday, a bit of fog that formed on Great Lake that might just be wafting closer to Liawenee at times, was raising the temperature ever so slightly at times," he said.

"As the fog wafts away, the temperature might fall, but it’s been going up and down by about a degree or two over the past three hours."

Mr Thomas said a ridge of high pressure sitting over the state has ensured the "quite cold" temperatures.

Across Tasmania it made it down to -4C at Fingal and Cressy in the state's north-east; -3C at Launceston, Launceston Airport in the north and -2C at Sheffield, Smithton in the north-west; Flinders Island also reached -2C.

Mr Thomas said that in June 1983, three Tasmanian locations hit -13C at the same time, Taraleah Village, Butlers Gorge and Shannon Hydroelectric.

He said a frosty morning was also forecast for Thursday, although it was less likely to have record-breaking temperatures.

Daytime temperatures are expected to rise to about 11C or 12C across the north of the state today.