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A deep low and associated fronts crossing the Southern Ocean are bringing showers, a few storms and very gusty winds to southeast WA, SA and Vic, with light rain in Tas. High pressure over the interior and across the north is maintaining dry conditions.
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Today, 4:45AM UTC
Which part of Australia had the coldest start to winter?
Today, June 1, marks the first day of winter in Australia. For many, it was a fittingly cold start to the season, with temperatures dropping below zero degrees in four states and territories and even dipping to a nippy 1.1°C in Queensland. The coldest place in Australia on the first morning of winter was the town of Cooma in NSW, where the temperature dropped to -4.5°C early on Monday morning. This was only slightly lower than Victoria’s lowest temperature of -3.1°C at Mount Hotham. Other sub-zero places on Monday morning included the ACT’s Mount Ginini (-2.8°C) and Tasmania’s kunanyi /Mount Wellington, which reached -0.4°C. Queensland was only a few shivers away from reaching zero degrees, with the mercury falling to 1.1°C at Oakey in the state’s notoriously chilly Darling Downs district. This was the state’s coldest start to winter in three years. The lowest temperature in SA on Monday morning was 5.3°C at Loxton. In the NT, Rabbit Flat’s 6.9°C was the territory’s coldest start to winter, while WA’s lowest temperature was 8.5°C at Jacup. Image: Lowest temperatures in each state and territory on the first morning of winter 2026. Source: Weatherzone. Some places in northern Australia had a start to winter that was enviable to those rugged up and searching for a thicker pair of socks in the country’s south. Darwin’s temperature only dropped to 18°C on Monday morning, while several tropical islands saw low temperatures in the low to mid-twenties. A weather station at Rowley Shoals, an island located about 300 km north of Port Hedland, only cooled to 25.1°C on Monday morning. In Australia’s state and territory capitals, minimum temperatures on the first morning of winter ranged from -1.1°C to 18°C: Darwin: 18°C Perth: 14.3°C Adelaide: 11.5°C Sydney: 9.3°C Brisbane: 8.8°C Melbourne: 8.3°C Hobart: 7.2°C Canberra: -1.1°C
Today, 2:11AM UTC
Light snowfalls to start winter, more to come ahead of ski season opening
A light dusting of fresh snow has coated the alpine areas of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania to start winter, with heavier snowfalls likely later this week just in time for Saturday’s official opening of the 2026 Australian ski season. The heaviest snowfalls are due later on Wednesday into Thursday, with accumulations of 20 to 40 cm possible at higher elevations. But before that happens, expect a burst of what snow-lovers call the dreaded "r" word – as in rain. Cold, then warm, then cold again Over the weekend, a cold front crossed Tasmania and the southeastern mainland, ushering in a burst of showery weather with snow that fell down to around 1500 metres above sea level at times. Image: 12-hour combined satellite and radar loop to 6 am on Sunday, May 31, 2026, showing showery weather crossing the SE corner of mainland Australia in a cool southwesterly stream that brought snow to elevations above about 1500 m. In the wake of the front, cool, windy, but mostly dry conditions are prevailing this Monday. Overnight, Thredbo fell to -4.1°C, the coldest temperature recorded anywhere in Australia. But Monday’s relatively stable weather will be short-lived, with another major system moving in. A low pressure system and associated cold front is currently crossing the Great Australian Bight. This is the same system that brought extremely strong winds to SW Western Australia over the weekend. Numerous strong wind warnings are in effect this Monday as the system tracks east, including a severe weather warning for damaging winds for large parts of South Australia, including all coastal areas from the WA border right across to the Victorian border. As this system approaches the mainland high country, a surge of relatively warm northwesterlies will precede the cold front, and this could push the snow level up to around 2000 m. For context, Australia’s highest peak Mt Kosciuszko is 2228 m, while the very highest parts of Thredbo and Perisher are around 2040 m. So we’re facing the prospect of rain at most of Australia’s ski resorts. But as mentioned, colder air and moisture will cross the southeast on Wednesday and Thursday. Thursday and Friday look especially chilly, and depending how much moisture lingers, brief snow showers could occur beyond the mountains in places like the NSW Central Tablelands. Will resorts be open for skiing and snowboarding this weekend? Image: A lovely clear Monday morning at the top of Thredbo (site of Australia’s highest official BoM weather station) at the start of the track to Mt Kosciuszko. Source: Thredbo.com.au. We can’t yet confirm whether ski resorts will be open, but if you’re heading up to the mainland high country for the King’s Birthday long weekend (which is not a long weekend in Qld or WA), you should definitely find enough snow to throw a snowball or two. As for skiing and snowboarding, at this stage it appears highly likely that beginner terrain will be open at major Australian ski resorts like Thredbo, Perisher, Mt Buller, Mt Hotham and Falls Creek. That’s not just because of the snow that will fall on Wednesday and Thursday, but because of the ideal snowmaking conditions which should set in afterwards, with cold, crisp nights ideal for pumping out snow on the most popular runs. READ MORE: Snowmaking begins in Australia: but how does it work? After snowmaking in Australia briefly kicked off last week, warm, mild, humid nights have prevented the guns from firing. Some rain in the meteorological mix didn’t help either. But the end of this week and the weekend look like providing an ideal window for snowmaking.
Today, 1:47AM UTC
135 km/h winds batter WA, with SA and Victoria next in line
Damaging winds will hit parts of Western Australia, South Australia and Victoria on Monday as a large low pressure system passes to the south of Australia. The powerful system will then cause wet and windy weather to continue over the country’s southeast through the middle of the week. Wild winds slam WA Ferocious winds brought down trees and cut power to tens of thousands of customers in WA’s west and southwest over the weekend. While wind and rain picked up on Saturday night with the arrival of a cold front, the strongest winds occurred late on Sunday as the low pressure system slammed into the state. Wind gusts reached up to 135 km/h at Cape Naturaliste and 133 km/h at Cape Leeuwin on Sunday evening. Other notable gusts from Sunday included: 120 km/h at Busselton Jetty 108 km/h at Jerdacuttup 107 km/h at Ravensthorpe 104 km/h at Garden Island 104 km/h at Mandurah and Mount Barker 100 km/h at Jandakot Airport 98 km/h at Dwellingup 93 km/h at Perth Airport Wind will ease in western areas of WA on Monday as the low moves further east. However, damaging wind gusts will continue to affect the state’s south, including the Eucla, South East Coastal and parts of Goldfields, South Coastal, Great Southern and Central Wheat Belt districts. Rain and damaging winds spreading further east As the low pressure system moves further east, wet and windy weather will spread over southern and southeastern Australia during the next few days, impacting parts of SA, Vic, Tas, NSW and the ACT. Image: Forecast wind gusts at 1 pm AEST on Monday, June 1, 2026. Source: Weatherzone. Damaging wind gusts are likely to affect parts of SA and Vic on Monday, possibly including Adelaide and areas near Melbourne. Damaging winds are also likely to spread into parts of NSW from Tuesday, most likely about the southern and central ranges. The large and slow-moving nature of the low pressure system will cause several days of rain across southern and southeastern Australia between Monday and Thursday. The heaviest falls from this system will occur in areas exposed to westerly component winds. Accumulated rainfall totals of 50 to 100 mm are possible in southern, central and northeast Vic and southern NSW between Monday and Thursday. More widespread totals of 20 to 50 mm are possible in SA, Tas, Vic, NSW and the ACT over this four-day period. Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the next seven days, although most of this will fall between Monday and Thursday. Source: Weatherzone. There may be enough rain to cause flooding in parts of Vic and southern NSW this week, particularly in areas of the ranges that have potential for accumulated totals above 100 mm. Some of this week’s precipitation will also be falling as snow in the higher terrain of southeastern Australia, adding some much-needed natural snow to the ski slopes in the opening days of winter. With severe weather likely to affect multiple states in the coming days, be sure to check the latest forecasts and weather warnings for your area for the most up-to-date information.