South East Queensland got an early taste of winter today with temperatures dipping to below freezing in some areas.

It prompted a timely warning from fire authorities, for residents to carry out safety checks.

Toby Crockford reports.

TRANSCRIPT

Winter is still a few weeks away, but today’s cold snap prompted people to turn on the heaters and rug up.

Rick Threlfall, BOM Forecaster: “It looks like Brisbane recorded its coolest start to the day for 2015, but the one that really stands out is Toowoomba, it got down to two degrees in Toowoomba and that’s its coldest May morning since 2004.”

Temperatures were around three to eight degrees below average for this time of year.

This cold weather means household heating appliances are coming out of storage, and according to the Fire Service, that always means the potential for fire fueled fatalities.

Kevin Reading, QF&RS: “Our main safety message is to ensure that people in the home have a working photo-electric smoke alarm. We do recommend that they are hardwired and interconnected.”

People often think it feels colder than the current temperature and that is usually the case. For example, this morning in Brisbane at 6:30 am, the actual temperature was 9.7 degrees, but it felt like 6.1 degrees.

Temperatures are expected to rise once again over the weekend.

Toby Crockford, QUT News.