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A procession of troughs traverse SE Australia
in this wintry chart for 10am today. The front that crossed the NSW coast
yesterday morning has nearly arrived in New Zealand as its parent low moves
slowly SE. The main influence on today's weather was the trough
seen lying through Sydney. A second trough, approaching Adelaide on this
chart, was to give the city renewed heavy showers and went on to produce
light snow on the NSW Northern Tablelands early on Thursday morning.BoM  |
 Wintry
blast hits NSW, VIC high country
A strong, moist westerly stream covered NSW and VIC today giving
heavy snowfalls to alpine areas and widespread snow showers along the NSW
ranges.
A surface trough crossed NSW during the morning supported by good
upper level moisture, colder air and instability. While light
snow showers
persisted on high, west-facing slopes throughout the day, the trough brought
more intense showers and lowered the freezing level, giving snow as low 800m
and settling above 1000m.
In the NSW Central Tablelands, heavy snow fell around dawn
and for several hours, isolating Oberon and creating hazardous driving conditions
on roads around Orange, Bathurst and Lithgow. All roads out of Oberon were
closed by police at 7.15am. The road east to Sydney reopened at
9.15am, northwest to Bathurst at 11.35am and south as far as Edith at 12.45pm,
but roads farther south, where the country rises above 1200m, remained closed
for the rest of the day. Police reported heavy snow on main highways between
Lithgow and Bathurst, Bathurst and Blayney, Bathurst and Orange, and Lithgow
and Mudgee, but did not close the roads. Apart from some trucks stuck on hills
unable to get traction, no traffic problems were reported. Estimates of maximum
snow depths included 5cm in Oberon, 2cm in Taralga, and around 5 to 10cm with
drifts to 20cm in the high country in between.
While the trough intensified snowfalls and lowered snow levels, light to moderate
showers of snow, sleet and hail were experienced across higher parts of the
NSW Central Tablelands throughout the day. The road up Mt Canobolas near Orange
was closed
after accumulated
snow made driving treacherous, though Orange itself experienced mostly sleet
with just 1cm briefly on the ground. Several heavy snow showers early morning,
mid morning and mid afternoon briefly put a white coat on the upper Blue Mountains.
Farther south, the snowline on the mountains west of Canberra descended to
about 800m.
The trough dumped around 8cm of snow on the ground in the high country
about 50km SE of Tamworth between 9 and 10am, causing the Niangala
school to abandon classes for the day to allow children to get home before
roads closed. Deeper snow was reported on higher country, and road closures
included the Hanging Rock Rd above Sheba Dams, Forest Way, Barry Rd, Hams
Corner and Duncans Creek. A man was injured in a car accident due to snow on
Thunderbolts
Way near Nowendoc. Snowy Mountains and VIC Alpine ski resorts revelled
in conditions described as being "as good as it gets". Snow depth at Kosciuszko
Chalet increased from
198cm on Monday morning to 230cm this morning. Thredbo reported 50cm and Perisher
Blue 45cm of fresh powder snow in 24 hours to this morning. In VIC, the Victorian
Snow Reporting Service said that an average of 44cm had fallen across the resorts
since Monday, bringing snow depths to 196cm at Mt Hotham (22cm overnight),
182cm at Mt Buller (20cm overnight) and 143cm at Falls Creek.
Flooding
eases around Adelaide
Heavy rain in Adelaide and the Adelaide Hills eased overnight,
but a small but vigorous front that crossed the city mid afternoon brought
a brief resumption of heavy showers accompanied by thunder and hail. Flood
levels in the city's three main river systems, the Torrens, Onkaparinga
and Gawler Rivers, began to fall, but a man had to be rescued
from the roof of his car in the Para River north of the city today. Two
hundred emergency workers have attended 300 callouts during the worst
of the flooding yesterday and during the cleanup today. Top 24 hour falls
to 9am are given below and were topped by 63.4 at Piccadilly, 14km ESE
of the CBD.
Bushfires
flare in SE QLD
Bushfires threatened property and caused minor damage to the north
and west of Brisbane today. The most serious, at
Hatton Vale, 30km W of Ipswich, started about 3pm and was driven east
by fresh,
gusty winds on a front several kilometres long. Seven houses were threatened
and a shed and car destroyed. On the Sunshine Coast, a fire
that began yesterday reignited today, causing the evacuation of a school
and
acquatic
centre
near Sunrise
Beach. Another fire was burning at Kenilworth, and both were believed
to be the work of arsonists. |
