About 10cm of hail blanketed Byron Bay's CBD in white snow-like ice after a storm triggered by a warm trough over Queensland collided with a mass of cold air heading north just after 5pm.
The Bureau of Meteorology said the "unusual" event delivered 32mm of rain in some areas as well as isolated bursts of small hail, centred on Byron Bay.
BoM meteorologist Steven Hadley said a high pressure system in the Great Australian Bite had triggered Queensland's cold snap.
"Directing a cold southerly air mass across eastern Australia, that's the reason for the drop in temperatures after yesterdays (Tuesday's) rainfall," he said.
Queenslanders are expected to feel the chill continue in the coming days, with colder mornings expected for the next few weeks.
"We'll see those frosty conditions in the morning extending north, so up into Central Queensland tonight and tomorrow night, then up into the Atherton Tablelands on Friday morning," Hadley said.
On Wednesday morning, Applethorpe in the Southern Downs region was Queensland's coldest town at -1.2C with winds triggering a feels-like temperature of -3.8C.
Charleville in the outback recorded -1.2C with a feels-like temperature of -3.6C.
In the far north town of Burketown it was 8C with 12.7C recorded in Cooktown, the coldest morning in region since 2020.
In Brisbane, the morning temperature was 8C, two degrees below average.