A cold front crossing through south-east Australia is bringing a snow dump and a chilly, wet week after a mild start to winter.
Temperatures won’t rebound to June averages until the end of the week, according to Angus Hines, a senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology.
The cold front was halfway through Victoria on Monday morning, having crossed over Tasmania and parts of South Australia overnight. It will track to the north-east for the remainder of the day, crossing the rest of Victoria as well as parts of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory.
The front will bring chilly and wet weather to the south-east of the country accompanied by a “notable” temperature drop and snow in Alpine areas, Hines said.
The ski fields of south-east Australia started to see modest snow at the weekend, with a “decent dump” expected throughout the course of Monday, according to Hines.
Hotham ski resort reported 12cm of fresh snow on Sunday morning while Perisher ski resort said it was experiencing blizzard conditions Monday morning after 3cm of snow overnight.
The Australian Alps could receive between 10cm and 20cm of snow on Monday, Hines said with 30cm to 40cm possible in the “odd spot”.
“Good news there for skiers hoping to get up into the mountains after a little bit of a tough start to the snow season,” Hines said.
12cm of fresh #snow at #Hotham. More #snowfalls today and throughout the week. Looking good! ☃️ pic.twitter.com/qXVcBDz2f4
— Hotham (@_hotham) June 17, 2023
The front will move out to sea on Tuesday.
“Behind it though, really chilly temperatures are going to stick around,” Hines said. “With the skies clearing, it’s a recipe for clear frosty nights, cold chilly icy mornings.”
Eastern and south-eastern parts of the country would experience cold morning temperatures and afternoon maximums several degrees below average into Thursday, he said.
In Melbourne the temperature is not predicted to get above 12C until Thursday, with minimum forecasts in the morning between 4C and 5C.
In Hobart the minimum morning temperature is between 3C and 4C, with highs between 11C and 12C until Wednesday.
Canberra will not get above 10C on Monday with an overnight minimums “well below freezing” with -3C Tuesday morning and -4C on Wednesday.
Sydney will experience a high temperature of 18C and minimums of 7C on Tuesday morning and 6C Wednesday.
The minimum temperatures have been even cooler for inland elevated parts of NSW, reaching -6.1C in Glen Innes and Mudgee on Monday morning, while Bathurst was -5.1C and Dubbo was -4.6C.
“It’s not been quite as cold as that further southwards with the front passing through Tasmania and Victoria, because it’s been windier and a bit cloudy,” Hines said.
“Generally, for those really cold, icy temperatures, you need clear and calm nights, which has been the case over New South Wales, and that’s why it will get colder over the next few days for other south-eastern states.”
Hines said it wouldn’t be until Friday that temperatures would settle back to June averages – but another band of rain was predicted for the south-east at that same point.
Monday would be mostly clear across Queensland and Northern Territory, while a “big band of cloud” is covering much of Western Australia bringing rain in the north-west of the state.
Temperatures in WA plunged below zero on Monday morning, with the coldest temperature recorded -2.1C at Southern Cross airport in the central wheatbelt.
