Press Release

Snow reaches northern NSW

26/08/2010: Light snow on the New South Wales ranges in the last 24 hours has been falling on the Blue Mountains and as far north as Guyra on the Northern Tablelands, according to weatherzone.com.au.

Overnight and this morning snow has been heavy on the Snowy Mountains with lighter falls settling on the the higher parts of the Central Tablelands. There has even been a few flurries on the Blue Mountains.

In the last 24 hours Thredbo has had 35 centimetres of snow in the village. Even more has fallen higher up the mountain, where Charlotte Pass now has a snow depth of more than one metre.

It has snowed near Canberra again. The Brindabella Ranges have had a good coating for the second time in a bit over a week.

In central NSW up to about five centimetres has settled on the ground in the Gingkin area on the Oberon Plateau. Nearby there has been light snow showers and sleet in Oberon town and in Orange.

"This is a pretty hefty pool of cold air, one containing strong winds and a bit of moisture and has reached the Queensland border," Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke said.

"There have been reports of light snow flakes in the Guyra area this morning, but it's not quite cold enough for it to settle on the ground for very long," Dutschke said.

"It's the third time this month Guyra has had snow, normally it only happens once in August. In the last 30 years the most often it has snowed in August is four times, in 1990."

"As the cold air pool heads further north and east it will cause further light snowfalls along the ranges, possibly even in the Guyra area. Damaging winds are also a chance along the ranges."

"But colder, stronger winds will develop on the coast, including Sydney and the Hunter where they have already gusted to 60 to 70 km/h. They may exceed 80 km/h this afternoon."

"During Friday the cold pool will dissipate which will cause snowfalls to contract to the Alps and winds to ease."

A Severe Weather Warning is in force for high ground as far north as the Hunter for damaging wind gusts.

Media Inquiries:

Brett Dutschke
media@weatherzone.com.au
02 9965 9269

About Weatherzone:

Weatherzone is Australia's most popular commercial meteorological resource, supplying weather information to most of Australia's major television broadcasters and websites. www.weatherzone.com.au has been developed by a team of world class meteorologists and features user friendly, up-to-the minute access to weather across the country.

If you wish to opt out from future messages, send a reply email with the subject UNSUBSCRIBE, or click here.