Parts of central and northern NSW have woken to a blanket of snow as heavy rain and damaging winds lash the state's coast.

A low pressure system over the Tasman Sea is driving a mass of cold air across the state, causing a burst of severe and wintry weather.

Temperatures dropped low enough for snow to reach low levels along the state's ranges and tablelands overnight.

Image: Snow in Blackheath on Tuesday morning. Credit: blackheathweather.com

On Tuesday morning, snow had settled in Guyra and Glen Innes on the Northern Tablelands, Katoomba, Lithgow, and Blackheath in the Blue Mountains and Goulburn in the Southern Tablelands.

Image: Snow on the main street in Lithgow on Tuesday morning. Credit: Chloe Patterson.

There were even reports of a few snowflakes falling near Stanthorpe in southern Queensland on Tuesday morning.

In addition to the snow, heavy rain and damaging winds are also affecting parts of eastern NSW as a powerful southerly change sweeps up the coast.

Ulladulla recorded a wind gust of 130km/h shortly before 4am on Tuesday, while Nowra had collected close to 80mm of rain by 7am.

Image: Radar and satellite image showing heavy rain affecting Sydney and eastern NSW on Tuesday morning.

Maximum wave heights were exceeding 8.5 metres off the coast of Batemans Bay early on Tuesday morning as the powerful winds churned up the sea.

Image: Batemans Bay wave height observations. Credit: Manly Hydraulics.

A severe weather warning is in place for the coast and adjacent ranges south of about Crescent Head, including Sydney, Newcastle and Wollongong. Damaging and locally destructive winds and damaging surf are likely within the warning area today.

Wet and windy weather hit Sydney during the morning commute, with wet roads, reduced visibility and the risk of blowing debris making travelling to work and school difficult. A road weather alert has been issued for the city's eastern suburbs.