With winter only a week away, snow has arrived at the ski resorts favoured by Canberrans.
It has also proved frosty in the nation's capital, where the mercury dropped to a brisk minus 4.8 degrees on Monday - the coldest overnight low recorded at the airport so far this year.
The sub-zero mornings are set to continue in Canberra for much of the week, with forecast lows of minus 1 on Tuesday and Wednesday, and then lows of minus 3 and minus 2 on the weekend.
The maximum temperature is not expected to get past 15 this week and Friday is tipped to top out at just 11.
Perisher was comparatively warm on Monday, and didn't drop below zero, but it still has a nice covering of snow.
"Mother Nature has provided the goods this weekend, sending us over 20 centimetres of snow," Perisher stated.
With the artificial aid of snow guns, which blow water droplets into the air so they freeze, the resort said "the snow continues to pile up".
Thredbo was also optimistic.
It promised a "massive long weekend of celebrations on and off the mountain" when the season opens in 19 days.
"We can't speak to the forecast as things change but we have received recent snowfall and have had a great start to our snowmaking operations," a spokeswoman said.
"We are expecting more snow later this week."
The resorts were hard hit by COVID but bounced back last season - though one glitch was reported as a shortage of accommodation for staff because town people had moved out to the resort town of Jindabyne during the pandemic.
All the same, this year looks good for the resorts.
Snow fell early, at Easter, blanketing both Thredbo and Mount Perisher with unseasonal whiteness.
Thredbo Ski Resort events manager Sam Noller said at the time that a snowfall that early in the year was unexpected.
"We might get the odd snowfall here and there, but two days straight of snow is out of the ordinary," Mr Noller said.
The end of the La Nina weather phenomenon may benefit skiers and the resorts. "It's actually better for us, clear nights makes for better snowmaking temperatures," Mr Noller said.
