Today is the official opening of the Australian ski season, with mixed conditions along the alpine ranges. A cold front next week will help bolster the early season snow base.

Resorts in New South Wales are having one of the best starts to a ski season in years. Unfortunately, resorts in Victoria and Tasmania have had too much rain lately. The coming week looks to bring some much needed snow to resorts that missed out during the last few days, as well as maintaining healthy early season snow depths in NSW.

A trough will likely bring rain to the ski fields on Wednesday, but a cold front behind the trough will turn that rain into snow. A pool of cold air will cross the southern NSW and Victorian ranges on Thursday, and another front looks to move over the region by Friday. The second front will reinforce cold air over the mountains, and with enough moisture, will deliver some good snowfalls to the resorts. Snow falls on Friday may be better in Victoria in southerly winds, the best falls in NSW usually come with northwesterlies.

Image: cold air pools, (shown within and behind the blue lines) and precipitation at 10am EST on Thursday 17th using the ECMWF model.

Across the NSW and Victorian resorts, 20-40cm of fresh snow is a good chance during next week, possibly a bit more on the higher peaks. Tasmanian resorts should see less amounts of snow, most likely with a bit of rain.

Freezing nights following the fronts will allow snow makers to get busy and will limit melting. Winds are likely to be strong with the passage of the fronts, so a good pair of thermals will be a must for anyone sliding down the mountain.