Gales,
snow in the southeast -- again 
3/10/02,
3/12/02 Another powerful cold front swept out of the Southern Ocean across southeastern states today, bringing gales to Tasmania, Victoria, southern NSW and southeastern SA. Copious snow fell to low levels in Tasmania. A strong southwesterly jet stream supported the movement of very cold upper air over Tasmania, while at the surface, a low of 942hPa to the south of the state produced winds gusting to 145km/h at Maatsuyker Island off the south coast and 148km/h at Cape Grim in the northwest. Snow was reported at 3pm from Palmers Lookout near Port Arthur, just 200m above sea level, while hail and isolated thunderstorms added to an increasingly bleak picture as evening arrived. By late evening, snow was settling in the higher suburbs of Hobart, with 8cm snow on the ground at Ferntree at 450m, and reports were coming in of 15 to 20cm of level snow at Bronte on the Central Plateau, closing highland highways. Strong winds brought down trees and powerlines across the state's north, with electricity supplies disrupted in the northeast and also at Port Latta, Smithton, Burnie, Natone and King Island.
In NSW, the Illawarra coast and the Southern Tablelands were worst hit. Wollongong Airport, at Albion Park, recorded its highest-ever wind gust of 128km/h, Lucas Heights recorded 122km/h and Nowra RAN Air Station recorded 119km/h during the late evening, while Goulburn Airport recorded 100 and Canberra Airport 93km/h. The worst damage was reported from Dapto and Unanderra in southern Wollongong, with a number of homes unroofed. The SES recorded more than 2000 calls for assistance, some of which were not able to be cleared for four or five days. 30,000 consumers, mostly in the Illawarra but some in southern Sydney, were without power. The NSW Government declared 30 local government areas natural disaster zones on Thursday 19 September, paving the way for financial relief. Rail services were disrupted when wind damaged power overhead and signalling equipment between Kiama and Wollongong, In Canberra, Fishwyck and Belconnen were blacked out. In the Hunter Valley, a house at Dungog was unroofed by the winds.
In Victoria, strong winds again swept across Melbourne and central areas of the state, downing trees and powerlines and causing blackouts in the Dandenongs, Warburton, Leongatha, East Gippsland, and some northern and western suburbs of Melbourne. Top wind gusts included 141km/h at Wilsons Promintory, 121km/h at Mt Gellibrand near Colac, and 115km/h at Aireys Inlet, 40km SW of Geelong. A man was killed by falling branches while trying to clear a fallen tree on his farm at Neerim, north of Warragul in Gippsland. The SES responded to 1,300 calls across the state, and over 3,000 homes were blacked out during the gales. The Insurance Council of Australia has issued a preliminary estimate of the cost of wind damage over the past few weeks in Victoria of $8 million. Conditions in Bass Strait are best left to the imagination, with Wilsons Promintory reporting gusts to 135km/h, and the Kingfish A oilrig reporting a gust of 117km/h over open water. In Port Phillip Bay, the AWS on South Channel Island reported a gust of 119km/h. The southbound Tasmanian ferry, Spirit One, ran into 7m seas when it cleared Port Phillip Heads around midnight, and was forced to turn around and return to Melbourne when an alarm on the ship's bow door signalled a possible problem. The northbound service, Spirit Two, made its crossing from Devonport as scheduled. The far southeastern corner of South Australia was also hit, with the Mt Gambier SES kept busy clearing fallen trees and branches from roads.