Weather News

Unlikely snow events in Australia

Kim Westcott, Sunday June 17, 2018 - 13:40 AEST

It seems that every year, and especially around the first decent snowfall of the season, we always get asked where abouts it will snow.

Generally, the answer is easy to figure out - for it to snow you need
really cold air and precipitation. It's colder at the top of mountains
than it is at sea level, and they are the most likely of the snowy places. However, mother nature can throw the odd curve ball.

In July 1965, the Central Coast of New South Wales was struck with a
powerful winter storm. The local paper ran with the headline "Snow - 6
inches!", with reported snow falls from Mangrove Mountain to the coastal town of Terrigal.

Snowfall in Sydney is an extremely rare event. A majority of these events were reported in the winter of 1836, with an observer talking about making snowballs at Enmore. The Sydney Herald reported snow depth of about an inch.

It has even snowed at Uluru. In July 1997, snow settled on top of the
famous monolith, with sleet and rain in the surrounding the area. The
maximum temperature that was only six degrees at Yulara, making it the
coldest day recorded at that site since the 1980's.

In Western Australia, the Stirling Ranges are the snow magnets. Located around 300 km southeast of Perth, with Bluff Knoll standing at 1095m, they will usually see a snow day every year or so. In June 1956, widespread snow was reported throughout several districts, with snow to a depth of 15cm on the Stirling Ranges, but flurries were reported right up to the Perth Hills and as far inland as the Goldfields.

In 2006, it even snowed on Christmas Day for residents of North Dandenong, Melbourne.

Today's snowfall is being rapidly turned into snowballs and snowmen
throughout Oberon, Orange and Barrington Tops. However, the winners for the deepest snow today are Alpine resorts, with around 10-20cm of fresh power being reported, with some resorts seeing around 70cm since Thursday.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2018

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