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| Sheep forage through a 5 to 10cm snowcover for
drought-thinned feed after snow fell along much of the NSW Divide today.
The full length of the NSW Tablelands received well below average autumn
rain, with an area from Canberra north towards Bathurst receiving the lowest
on record. In higher locations, like here at Shooters Hill, 1300m above
sea level between Bathurst and Goulburn, strong
winds
and light
snow
continued
well
into
Sunday. |
 Snow
mantles NSW Great Divide
The cold outbreak that gave snow to NE VIC yesterday spread into NSW
today bringing widespread light to moderate snowfalls up the Great Divide. A
patchy rainband accompanied the arrival of the colder air which moved into
the Southern Tablelands late morning and the Northern Tablelands overnight
into Sunday. It gave several hours of steady snow in locations where
the rain continued in the
low temperatures.
Following the rainband, the middle atmosphere dried out and stabilised, but
generous low-level moisture combined with topographic uplift to give continued
light snow to areas above about 1100m through into Sunday.
The heaviest snow of the weekend appears to have fallen this afternoon on
the Barrington Tops between Gloucester and Scone where a resident said the
10cm
cover was
the deepest
since
2000.
Snow was also reported on the Northern Tablelands at Nundle, Walcha and Guyra,
where the hospital reported 4cm snow on ground at 9am Sunday. On the Central
Tablelands, light snow and sleet was reported by police between Lithgow and
Bathurst on Saturday afternoon and evening but although there were light accumulations,
roads were not closed. Light snow continuing through the night gave 2cm on
the ground at Orange at 6am Sunday and 5cm at Oberon at 9am. In the higher
country south and southeast of Oberon, there was 5 to 10cm on the ground by
Sunday
morning, and evidence of considerable tree damage from strong winds in exposed
areas. In the upper Blue Mountains, temperatures dropped to around 2° early
afternoon just as light rain from the rainband ceased, giving only a few flakes.
Farther south, Taralga had a crust of snow on the ground by 9am Sunday and
Crookwell a dusting of snow.
Good snow fell on the Brindabella Range west of Canberra,
while on the Snowy Mountains snow depth at Kosciuszko Chalet increased
from 45cm yesterday afternoon to 65cm by 3pm this afternoon. Perisher Valley
reported
20cm new snow overnight and Thredbo Village 15cm. Heavy rain was reported
from areas just to the west of the Brindabellas and Snowies, with Argalong,
65km W of Canberra, reporting 53.8mm for the 24 hours to 9am and Batlow 48.6
for the two days to 9am, most of which would have fallen in the second 24 hour
period. Gales,
snow and rain in VIC, TAS Snow fell to below 300m in
TAS and 500m in VIC today as storm force wind gusts and low temperatures
gave the southeastern states a second wintry
day. A strong surface and upper trough crossed the area this morning
and early afternoon, turning the wind southerly and providing the
day's strongest wind gust of 131km/h at Wilsons Promontory at 2.49pm. A small
surface low developed in the trough as it passed King Island late morning.
It, and
an associated upper vortex in the area, may have been responsible for drawing
slightly warmer, moister air into central and eastern VIC during the afternoon,
giving thunderstorms and some heavy rain.
In TAS, snow was reported as low as Maydena, 281m in the Derwent Valley west
of Hobart, where moderate snow was reported by the observer at 9am. Snow depths
reported by Bureau observers at 9am were 8cm at Lake St Clair and Liawenee
and 2cm at Tarraleah. Snow continued through the day in the highlands while
hail showers were widespread elsewhere. Wind gusts peaked at 111km/h on Tasman
Island late afternoon.
In VIC, there were no official reports of snow away from the Alps, but eyewitnesses
observed snow flurries in Ballarat (435m) and snow was settling on Mt Buninyong
(745m), 15km to the southeast and as low as 500m around Daylesford. Strong
winds gusting to 74km/h during the early afternoon brought down trees and powerlines
at Wendouree in Ballarat. Snow showers were observed mid afternoon atop Mt
Stanley
(1061m),
35km SSW
of Wodonga while the ABC reported that snow fell at Licola, 200m asl, during
the day. A
line SW to NE through Olinda, Warburton and Mt Donna Buang east of Melbourne
experienced a rare thunder snowstorm, with heavy small hail 1 to 2cm deep making
roads treacherous. Monbulk, 8km SW of Olinda, reported the state's highest
24 hour rainfall to
9am Sunday of 53mm. Hunters Hill, 30km W of Corryong, had the most rain to
9 this morning with 60.4mm. In the Alps, snow depth at Mt Hotham had increased
to 70cm, while cross-country trails on Mt St Gwinear near the Baw Baw resort
had a 55cm cover.
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Minimum temperature 6 to 10° below average
nearly span the tropics. BoM  |
Cold
snap covers the tropics
Minimum temperatures this morning were within two or three degrees
of all time records at a number of locations in NW QLD and central northern
NT. Mt Isa QLD and Wollogorang, Tindal and Timber Creek NT were
all around 10° below average and only a couple of degrees shy of all
time records in between 20 and 35 years of observations. Wollogorang, with
a low of 2.4, equalled its June record in 22 years of observations.
 Damaging
winds in the NSW Illawarra
Squally winds descending the Illawarra Escarpment led to 90 call-outs
for SES personnel between Wollongong and Kiama today. Most of the
calls were to repair lifting roof tiles or roofs and to remove tree limbs
that had fallen onto roofs, but in Kiama two properties suffered more serious
damage when large trees were blown onto them. The highest wind gusts reported
were 104km/h at Nowra RAN at 10.10am, 100 at Bellambi at 5.25pm and 96 at
Albion Park at 6.38pm.
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