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Mandora, Western Australia (19.74 deg, 8m asl) has a record low of -0.6C. After looking through some BOM stats there are a number of locations a little inland of the Gulf of Carpentaria at around 17 deg which have recorded lows around the 0.1C-1.0C mark.
I always find it so interesting in Australia that places at 40 latitude such as around Tasmania (Maatsuyker Island comes to mind) can have almost the same record lows as places much higher latitude like Mandora....
I always find it so interesting in Australia that places at 40 latitude such as around Tasmania (Maatsuyker Island comes to mind) can have almost the same record lows as places much higher latitude like Mandora....
I just saw that Mandora, AU went below freezing at sea level and latitude 20. I'm surprised.
Dade County, FL comes to mind, but the south coast of China (21 to 25 deg latitude) seems like it might beat out S Fla due to the frigid Siberian Continental Polar air masses plunging southward with no major bodies of water to modify it.
Thoughts?
To the OP: Did you have a cut-off point in mind for altitude? Cáceres in Mato Grosso state, Brazil, could be a good contender. It's on 16"S at just 176m (577 ft), barely a hill! According to the Portuguese Wikipedia it recorded -1C in 1996 officially, and unofficially, -7C in 1915 - which if accurate, would be truly remarkable for such a location.
There are probably other locations nearer sea-level but slightly further south in Brazil that have recorded freezing temperatures. You just have to look at a physical map of the interior of Brazil to see why it's a good contender for this type of record - a large landmass with the Andes to the west and the relatively high plateaus around the coast sealing off maritime influences.
500 feet isn't what I'd call high-altitude, and I think that is what the OP was trying to exclude, though there's no way to be sure unless he/she tells us. At any rate 500 feet above sea level barely affects the climate at all, and if it did get to 30F in 1996 and/or 19F in 1915 I think we have a solid winner.
That 1915 record must be the lowest-latitude sub-20F reading on record anywhere, excluding high-altitude locations.
I always find it so interesting in Australia that places at 40 latitude such as around Tasmania (Maatsuyker Island comes to mind) can have almost the same record lows as places much higher latitude like Mandora....
Yes it is interesting, particularly when you consider that the Australian landmass is hardly a cold air factory with the mainland not extending beyond 40 deg.
Anyone know anything about the freezing records at low latitudes in the Sahara?
If I'm not mistaken, since it's so dry I've heard that it's been known to drop around freezing in the desert there but then again the Sahara does have some high altitude spots (looking at a relief map in an atlas).
It snowed in Tampico at 22N once so somewhere in Mexico could be a candidate - shame most of inland Mexico as far as I know is at a relatively high altitude.
I have a feeling Mexico might be a strong contender just because the area of the Great Plains/southern US seems to get among the coldest cold snaps relative to their average stats (for instance Texas' record lows are astounding like -8C/18F for Brownsville, near the Mexican border, and at only a couple degrees from being in the tropics), from Arctic blasts. There aren't many places in the world like the interior of North America where the cold rolls down like that unobstructed.
Yes, one does wonder if even much of that area of Mexico wasn't at a high altitude, how far south a freeze from those blasts could occur. Probably well within the tropics and maybe even a bit past by a few degrees.
Central Australia is a good place to find freezing temps at tropical latitudes in the desert. It's perpetually clear, dry and sunny, and strong cold fronts from the southern ocean can extend well into the interior. But unlike on the coast, these fronts are devoid of cloud and rain, bringing only cold air. Almost always a high pressure cell follows bringing stable, windless conditions creating a perfect recipe for cold lows.
Looking at the obs for places further north though, temps are much warmer and most inland desert stations in WA, NT and QLD above the tropic of Capricorn haven't had a night under 0C this winter yet, but some are averaging similar lows to the subarctic overcast climates of coastal southern Victoria. E.g. Fitzroy Crossing in WA at 18*S http://www.bom.gov.au/climate/dwo/ID...4.latest.shtml
Australia must be one of the few places in the world where record lows have very little to do with latitude and more to do with distance from the ocean.... Why else would a place that's 20S vs a place that's 40S have similar winter lows?
I'm not even going to point out any place through Brazilian coast but,it would be easily beat out. Our record comes to latitude above 23 degrees
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