Australia’s most popular ski slopes have been deluged with snow despite nearby Canberra copping an autumn heatwave.
Thredbo and Perisher were covered in snow on Sunday as temperatures in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains dipped below zero, months before the ski season officially begins.
The surprise dumps of snow on the Alpine region occurred only days after the nation’s capital of Canberra, a two-hour drive away, sweltered in 30C temperatures.
Australia’s most popular ski slopes have been deluged with snow despite nearby Canberra copping an autumn heatwave (Perisher pictured)
School holiday makers in Thredbo awoke to white capped peaks, with around 5cm of snow dusting the middle and upper slopes
Skiers were in a celebratory mood, posting images of snow covering outdoor tables as a southerly cold front brought snowfall. Pictured: Thredbo
Skiers were in a celebratory mood, posting images of snow covering outdoor tables as a southerly cold front brought snowfall.
‘Now it’s Oz’s turn. Snow in the Aussie Alps in April. No long now,’ one man wrote.
A man on a snowboard was also hailing the powdery conditions on the ski slopes in Thredbo.
‘It has begun. We can’t wait for the snow season to officially kick off,’ he said.
On Wednesday and Thursday last week, Canberra was sweltering in 30C temperatures as the state boiled in unseasonably hot autumn weather.
But the temperatures then dropped sharply over the weekend, in time for the start of the school holidays, with causing temperatures to dip to minus 2C in Perisher.
Thredbo (pictured) and Perisher were covered in snow on Sunday as temperatures in the New South Wales Snowy Mountains dipped below zero
The temperatures then dropped sharply over the weekend, in time for the start of the school holidays, with causing temperatures to dip to minus 2C in Perisher (pictured)
The peak of the ski season doesn’t start until July but already, the Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting temperatures in Perisher to drop to minus 2C again on Wednesday, as the mercury in Thredbo drops to minus 1C.
On Sunday, 10cm of snow covered Perisher as the temperature dropped to minus 2C, while 5cm of snow powdered Thredbo.
‘Mother nature letting us now that winter is well and truly on the way,’ one Instagram post on Perisher said.
The Sunday snowfalls in the Alpine region came as Canberra was buffeted with 100km/h winds.
On Sunday, 10cm of snow covered Perisher (pictured) as the temperature dropped to minus 2C, while 5cm of snow powdered Thredbo
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Emily McVeigh said a significant cold front from the south had brought the snowfalls.
‘What it did was push out that warmer air mass that we’d been seeing so far in April, and bring some cold air and strong winds from the south,’ she told The Canberra Times.
Last week Dave Taylor, a Queensland-based weather expert, predicted a cool change would mark the beginning of the coldest winter in decades – and the start of a ‘mini ice age’ which will last for seven years.
‘It won’t get super cold but will go back to average autumn temperatures,’ he said.
‘We will start seeing those freezing temperatures in six weeks,’ he said.
After a run of sunshine and mild autumn weather in the mountains, the temperatures took a dive on the weekend. Pictured: Thredbo