Weather News

Big dump of snow on the way

The Australian ski fields are about to be covered with the biggest dump of fresh snow this season and it's starting tonight, according to weatherzone.com.au.

"Widespread snowfalls of 25-to-50 centimetres are likely between tonight and early next week, most of it falling during tonight and Thursday," Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.

"A strong cold front is carrying a cloud band with a reasonable amount of moisture, the same system which brought widespread rain to southwest WA earlier this week. The rain in this cloud band won't take long to fall as snow at most resorts, due to the lack of warm air ahead of it. This front will be followed by another soon after, maintaining snow-bearing westerly winds for several days," Dutschke said.

This is great news for those heading to the snow this weekend or next week.

It has already been a better-than-average start to the season and the snow depth is about 20 centimetres more than at the same time last year. This coming snow will improve the cover markedly. By the weekend the depth should be well above half a metre.

Together with the snow will be a burst of very strong winds, potentially gusting more than 100km/h. Wednesday night and Thursday looks like being the windiest period with a risk of blizzard-like conditions. Wind will ease noticeably by the weekend.

"During next week, westerly winds will ease and skies will clear as a high pressure system takes over. That sets up a great week for skiing and snowboarding."

"Looking ahead to the rest of winter, it should be fairly close to average, regarding snowfalls," Dutschke said.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2012

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