Cold
snap brings snow to Tas, Vic, NSWBushfires
continue in NSW, ACTAn unusually late and intense cold snap brought snow to Victoria, Tasmania and NSW overnight and this morning. Overnight rain turned to substantial snow flurries this morning at the Tarra Bulga Guesthouse near Balook, 35km south of Morwell in the Victorian Strzelecki Ranges and at an altitude of about 800m. In Tasmania, Liawenee on the Central Plateau reported overnight snow, and Cradle Valley airstrip had 10cm on the ground at 9am. Light snow was reported through the day from Perisher Valley in the NSW Snowy Mountains. A narrow but intense trough of cold air, with a central 1000/500hPa thickness of around 532hPa and 850hPa temperatures around -2 across Victoria, was responsible. The burst of southern air gave Polda, 45km ENE of Elliston on the Eyre Peninsula SA, its coldest November night in a 35-year record with a minimum of just 2.0°.
Gusty westerly winds and dry-storm lightning strikes increased bushfire activity in NSW and the ACT today. In NSW, over 1,000 firefighters continue to work on 71 fires around the state. A fire near Cessnock flared up in hot, dry and windy conditions, threatening over 20 properties and pulling firefighters from another new blaze at Mount View near Singleton. The drain on local resources and distribution of thirteen fires currently burning within the Scone, Murrurundi, Nundle and Quirindi rural fire districts, has necessitated the declaration of a Section 44 emergency within the Crawney Zone that covers the area.
Fires continue to burn in the Bala Range SW of St Albans (which has now burnt more than 40,700ha), around Boree and Wallabadah, Dungog, Ebsworth west of Booral, Wyong, Gloucester, Coonabarabran, Tamworth, in the Clarence Valley SW of Grafton, and Mt Hay in the Blue Mountains. The 5 fires of concern on the Northern Tablelands (see report for 1 November) still pose a threat, though like most of the others are either burning in inaccessible country, being consolidated, contained or being patrolled. The Northern Tablelands fires are now in their 37th day, with additional fires flaring up after dry-storm lightning strikes yesterday and again this evening. More than 160,000ha has been burnt in the area with a fire perimeter of nearly 1000km.
In the ACT, fire crews contained a small bushfire at O'Connor Ridge, and were mopping up a 15ha blaze in the Namadgi National Park.