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Tassie ski tow buried under snow

Anthony Sharwood, Friday September 20, 2024 - 15:42 AEST

Heavy snow continues to fall in elevated parts of Tasmania, and the snow showers likely won't let up for another couple of days.

This was the scene at midday on Friday at Mt Mawson, the tiny club-run ski field about 90 minutes northwest of Hobart. As you can see, the cable on the main rope tow (a rudimentary form of ski lift) is just about buried.

Image: The two skiers in the image are cross-country skiers however the tow is scheduled to run this weekend once it has been dug out. Source: Mt Mawson.

Peter Davis, the former president of the Southern Tasmania Ski Association, announced that the ski tow pictured, plus another tow higher up the mountain, would run this weekend on a cover of snow that is currently 80 cm deep.

Tasmania has had a strange snow season.

In early July, it was bitterly cold but mostly snowless as the state entered a deep freeze under clear skies and near-windless conditions – with the state recording its record July low and second-lowest temperature on record in any month.

Despite that one frigid week, winter 2024 overall was considerably warmer than usual right across Tasmania both by day and by night, as indicated in the charts below which show maximum (left) and minimum (right) temperature deciles.

Image: Deciles are a way of splitting data into 10 equally large sections, and as the charts show, winter 2024 temperatures were in the upper deciles in Tasmania. Source: BoM.

With such a warm winter overall, it's no surprise that it was a dud snow season at Mt Mawson and at Ben Lomond near Launceston, Tasmania's only commercial ski area.

But September has been cold and wet in Tasmania, with two particularly heavy bursts of highland snowfall, each lasting several days.

As of September 20, kunanyi/Mt Wellington above Hobart has experienced colder than usual average maximums and minimums throughout the month to date:

The running average min as of Sep 20 is –1.7°C (long-term average –1.1°C).

The running average max as of Sep 20 is 3.3°C (long-term average 4.8°C).

Image: After almost no skiable snow in winter 2024, spring kicked off with a bang on September 1. Source: Mt Mawson.

As for Australia’s eight mainland downhill ski resorts, only Perisher remains open, with 10 lifts set to spin this weekend. Word from locals is that the Front Valley slope will be the only run open from Monday onwards.

Meanwhile warm weather continues anywhere north of about Sydney.

Image: Forecast max temps for Saturday, September 21.

We wrote on Thursday about the massive temperature contrasts in Australia at the moment, and while cold fronts will continue to whip across Tasmania, the east coast will remain dry with daytime temps a few degrees above the seasonal average.

- Weatherzone

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