It's here. The cold snap you've been reading about all week is making its presence felt in the alpine regions of NSW and Victoria, and well beyond.

Not that Zigge and Caspar are too fussed.

Image: Zigge and Casper "paws" to wonder where the heck their bones went. Source: Phil Richmond.

The two samoyeds live on a property near Berridale in NSW. Snow-lovers would know that the area is roughly halfway between Cooma and Jindabyne, on the way to the Snowy Mountains.

This is country which is normally well below the snow line. It'll get a flake or two from time to time each winter, however heavy snow is rare. But today, the area is copping a proper dump of snow.

The property's owner Phil Richmond told Weatherzone that snow has been "absolutely bucketing down", with at least five centimetres on the ground so far.

Image: Samoyeds are originally reindeer-herding dogs from from Siberia, so they're pretty well-equipped for this sort of weather. Source: Phil Richmond.

So why the cold blast?

"Cold air that originated near Antarctica is moving over NSW today, causing snow to reach low levels along the state's southern, central and northern ranges and tablelands," Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino explains.

Meanwhile the Central Tablelands and Blue Mountains of NSW, west of Sydney, are the first regions outside the traditional winter snowfields to report solid snowfalls on Wednesday.

Image: Autumn has definitely "given way" to winter in Orange: Source: Peter Malek (@ppmalek on Instagram).

There's nothing excessively heavy to report yet, but locals always get a thrill from seeing downtown Orange turn white.

The large regional NSW city sits at an elevation of around 860 metres and is home to 40,000 residents plus an educational institution with a fondness for "dad jokes".

�� This is snow laughing matter ... it's snowing on our Orange campus! #CharlesSturtUni pic.twitter.com/aAT2xUihHF

— Charles Sturt University (@CharlesSturtUni) June 9, 2021

We'll keep you updated with stories, pics and videos as this cold weather system slowly tracks north in the next couple of days, delivering snow to locations that see it pretty infrequently, and potentially bringing light snow as far north as southern Queensland.

T'is snowing around Bathurst and Blayney #snow pic.twitter.com/B1aOq32r6N

— Erinasaurous Rex (@pfinger18) June 9, 2021