Welcome to Weatherzone's weekly wrap of mainland Aussie snow conditions. The short answer this week is yep, get yourself up there if you can!

Before we run through conditions and weather, a reminder that our snow page has all the info you need on likely snowfalls over the next two weeks, plus links to live snow cams like the image below and more.

On to the current conditions...

Image: Thredbo's Super Trail opened this week. This pic shows the top half of Australia's longest single lift-accessed run. Source: Thredbo.com.au.

So thanks to snowfalls last weekend, it was probably the pick of what has been a prety meagre season to date.

We ran a story on Monday showcasing some of the best pics from a very cold, wintry, snowy weekend in the Alps. If they didn't give you that terrible disease known as SDS (Snow Deprivation Syndrome), then clearly you're more of a beach person!

Image: "Cold smoke" at Thredbo. Source: @ThredboResort on Instagram.

NSW

Apart from coating the surface in really light, dry, Japan-type snow, the weekend snowfalls topped up the base in NSW resorts to the point where they are now running at near full lift capacity.

The official snow depth at Spencers Creek (about halfway between Perisher and Thredbo) hasn't yet been registered on the Snowy Hydro website, but last week's 54.8 cm will undoubtedly have been exceeded, perhaps by up to 20 centimetres.

Perisher has 35 lifts spinning in all four resort areas - Perisher, Guthega, Smiggin Holes and Blue Cow.

Thredbo has 12 of its 14 lifts going. A hot tip is to check Thredbo accommodation if you live in Victoria, as Thredbo is easily the closest NSW resort to Victoria, and many NSW folk stuck in Sydney due to the Covid lockdown have been forced to cancel their bookings.

And little old Charlotte Pass has four of its five lifts open.

Image: We're not there, that's not fair! Source: Charlottepass_snow on Instagram.

Victoria

At last, some fresh snow fell on Victoria's southern resorts Mt Buller and Mt Baw Baw last weekend. It wasn't a lot, but it was enough to add a bit of depth to the man-made stuff, and also to make the mountains look and feel like ski resorts.

Mt Buller now has six lifts open while Baw Baw has two lifts out of seven spinning.

Falls Creek is looking a lot healthier now too with around 30 cm of natural snow and much mroe in the snowmaking areas. Its large snowmaking system is really paying off right now, and 11 lifts are open.

Hotham now has a 44 cm base of natural snow, topped up in some areas by snowmaking. The Heavenly Valley quad chair opened this week, making it seven lifts in total. Most serious skiers and boarders don't reckon Hotham is much chop until Heavenly opens. So it's definitely game on now.

Pure #magic today at #FallsCreek. More fresh #snow & the snow guns 💪 are still firing🔥. More than 50hrs straight! 🙌 pic.twitter.com/RwXYTG7gNj

— Falls Creek Official (@fallsaustralia) July 4, 2021

The next snowfall?

• For all the good news of the last week - moderate snowfalls followed by several nights of perfect snowmaking weather - more snow is definitely needed. The good news is that looks likely.
• While this coming weekend should be mostly clear in Victoria, and partly cloudy in NSW with just a slight chance of a light snow flurry, things kick into gear next week, with the passage of a series of cold fronts that could deliver light to moderate snowfalls.
• For now, the best chance of a serious cold outbreak with heavy snow appears to be a good eight or nine days away, due to arrive the weekend after the one coming. We'll keep you updated on that storm as it approaches.

But the bottom line is that yep, as mentioned, get to the snow if you can this weekend.

And while NSW still has the most snow and the most terrain open, we reckon a trip up to Mt Hotham to ski the steeps of Heavenly Valley might be the best bet for adrenaline junkies, even if the cover is still a little sketchy in places.