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Today's cold pool dominates the analysis
chart for 500hPa at 10am. 500hPa is about 5.5km above sea level. Temperatures
in the dark blue area are -30 or below; average temperatures at this level
for June across NSW range from -19 to -21. Weatherzone, BoM  |
 NSW: Cold pool
brings widespread snow, cold
The cold pool that brought stormy weather to SA yesterday moved into NSW,
bringing wintry weather across most of the state. Snowfalls were widespread,
but patchy distribution of moisture produced patchy falls, with some unusually
low-level snow and some regular non-alpine snow areas missing out. Snow continued
into Thursday (see report for 23 JUN).
Bureau observers reported snow at Guyra, Lithgow and Katoomba, and
sleet (rain mixed with snow) at Orange and Bathurst. The following reports
from press and individuals give an indication of the distribution of the snow.
- Heavy snow fell in the Brindabella Ranges west of Canberra overnight, with
estimates of 30 to 40cm on the ground by dawn. Mt Ginini AWS (1760m asl)
recorded sub-zero temperatures and 48mm melted precipitation in the 36 hours
to 9am.
- Unusually for so early in a snow event, there were early substantial falls
on the Northern Tablelands. Ebor, Guyra, Ben Lomond, Niangala and Hanging
Rock
all
reported
lying snow
by dawn, with 7.5cm depth reported at Hanging Rock and snow said to have
fallen throughout the night. Forest Road from Hanging Rock to Niangala
and the Niangala to Nowendoc Roads were closed by 5cm of snow.
- There were reports during the late morning of sporadic snow, sometimes
heavy enough to settle lightly, around Orange, Yetholme, Mt Lambie, Portland,
Clarence, Oberon, Black Springs and Blayney on the Central Tablelands. This
normally favoured
triangle, however,
continued to receive only isolated snow showers and little accumulation.
- Sleet was reported in Wagga about 8am and snow in Tumbarumba about 11.30am.
- Parkes (elevation 320m) received a rare snowfall about 4.30pm. The local
newspaper, the Champion Post, received many calls from residents
in the town's north reporting snow settling on grass and car roofs, the
first instance of snow settling in the district since 1901. There was rapid
development
of convective cloud cells as cold air moved into central NSW during the
early afternoon, and the snow fell from one of the largest of these. Parkes
Airport AWS reported a temperature of 2.3C at 4.46pm with 2.8mm of precipitation
in the previous 10 minutes.
- The same cloud cluster moved east during the early evening and gave several
hours of moderate to heavy snow around Orange with an accumulation of around
5
to 10cm closing the Cargo, Forbes, Molong, Burrandong and Mt Canobolas Summit
Roads as well as many local roads.
- Some of the heaviest precipitation of this event passed across the
northern Hunter and Barrington Tops area this afternoon and evening, also
falling to low levels. Forests NSW Hunter Resources Forester Mike Pyrjma
told the Scone Advocate "there was 60cm of snow on Wednesday
with snow still falling when the [Scone to Gloucester] road was closed at
4pm." Snow
"thick enough to pick up" was reported around 8pm at Mt Olive, on the western
side
of the Barrington Tops 20km N of Singleton and at an elevation of only 150m.
SA:
Flooding in Murray Bridge (again) as rain record falls
Heavy rain in Murray Bridge caused flooding for the fifth time in 6 months
today. The city recorded 41.0mm in the 24 hours to 9am Thursday, the heaviest
June day's rain in 119 years. 27mm fell between 9am and 3pm, with the heaviest
rain mid-afternoon causing flooding in the flood-prone Christian Reserve
area. Twelve homes were threatened
but
saved from flooding by sandbagging. Three homes were entered by floodwaters
and one severely damaged. Flooding closed a number of streets, and two men
had to be rescued from the roof of their vehicle when it was stranded in
rising floodwaters in a creek near Mannum Road.
 TAS: Heavy rain
in the southeast
A narrow band of moisture feeding onto the SE TAS coast gave some heavy
falls, particularly on Mt Wellington behind Hobart. The mountain's summit
AWS recorded
132mm of rain between 9am yesterday and 9pm this evening, with both the 89.8
total to 9am this morning and the 44.2 total to 9am Thursday beating the
summit's previous June one-day rainfall record of 23.6mm in 15 years of observations.
Falls were
lighter away from the mountain, but in the 48-hours to 9am Thursday Nugent
(Twilight Valley), 30km ENE of Hobart, recorded 83.4m, Tunnack 63.4 and Tarraleah
in the upper Derwent Valley 62.4mm. Hobart City recorded 29.0, and many locations
in the Southeast and Derwent Valley recorded between 30 and 50mm.
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