Weather News

Mid-week snow to help pre-season base

Craig McIntosh, Sunday May 27, 2018 - 15:11 AEST

A cold front due to cross the alpine region will bring some snow to the resorts from Tuesday, assisting the snow-making guns that are currently forming the base for the upcoming winter.

Although not likely to deliver the snowfalls we saw a couple of weeks ago when a stronger front hit the Alps, this front looks to have less moisture yet will still help form the base the resorts need to get the ski season underway. Snow flurries should be regular each day until about Friday morning, and we should be looking at 5-15cm of new snow by then.

Lately, as high pressure has been lingering over the southeast, many nights have been settled enough for temperatures to drop below zero, enabling some snow-making guns to be turned on. Although snow cover is still very patchy, the ground is starting to freeze to a point where snow will start to settle on top instead of melting, which is what's needed to initially form the icy base that thickens throughout the season with accumulating snowfalls. When the base is thick and the thermometer is set to cold, any dry snow on top will stay powdery and give skiers and snowboarders plenty of joy.

Following this next cold front, overnight temperatures will once again dip below zero as high pressure takes over. This will help resort snow-making teams build on top of what falls with this front. The high pressure system should linger for about a week or so, so it's likely the base will be primarily man-made snow until the winter cold fronts take over.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2018

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

Generation gone with the wind

13:20 AEST A weeklong stretch of low wind power was broken on Wednesday evening, as a weak cold front marched across southern Australia. The chart below shows that the National Electricity Market (NEM) has endured a weeklong stretch of low wind generation, with wind power providing around 6% of the NEM’s electricity, down from last year’s average of 13.1% (Mon, April 15 to Wed, April 17).