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Central NSW wakes up to winter wonderland

Skies are clearing in the wake of a powerful polar blast that swept across southeastern Australia, bringing significant snowfalls to central New South Wales and Alpine resorts, damaging winds and now bitterly cold mornings.

Image: Satellite imagery on Wednesday afternoon shows a sea of cold-air cumulus surging up from Antartica, a clear sign of a strong cold front crossing southeastern Australia.

Wednesday's surge of cold air delivered powerful winds across the southeast, and particularly the east coast. Most of the Hunter, Central Coast, Greater Sydney and Illawarra regions saw winds gusts above 80km/h, topping out at 115km/h at Bellambi—its strongest wind gust in 14 years.  The strongest winds from the whole event were recorded at the exposed Hogan Island in Bass Strait, reaching 146km/h.

Image: Snow settling on some garden beds in Oberon overnight. Source: @farm2finger / Instagram

The combination of cold air and moisture provided the perfect recipe for snow in central NSW as well as the Alpine resorts in southern NSW, Victoria and Tasmania. An estimated 2-5cm of snow fell over the Central Tablelands overnight, with a few flakes also seen over the Upper Blue Mountains. As the skies cleared on Thursday morning, the extent of the wintry conditions could be seen on satellite.

Image: Sunrise on Thursday morning reveals the snow on the ground over the Central Tablelands.

With clear skies under high pressure now replacing the snow clouds, overnight temperatures have plummeted across the region. The Alps were particularly cold, even by their standards. Some standouts from Thursday morning include:

• Cabramurra: -5.7°C (coldest June morning in 16 years)
• Combienbar: 1.4°C (coldest June morning in 10 years)
• Mt Ginini: -7.0°C (coldest June morning in 9 years)
• Mt Hotham: -6.8°C (coldest June morning in 9 years)
• Hunters Hill: -2.1°C (coldest June morning in 9 years)
• Thredbo Top Station: -8.0°C (coldest over Australia last night)

Friday and Saturday mornings are set to become even colder across most of the southeast and extending up to southern Qld, with the chilly weather lasting for at least the remainder of the month.

Image: Forecast minimum temperatures for Friday morning

Canberra is set for another cold spell, with a forecast of minimums around –5°C for the next four mornings, much like its coldest week in 60 years that it saw last week. With this end to the month, Canberra is likely to see its coldest June for minimum temperatures since at least 1984.

While the mornings are likely to stay cold for several days, daytime temperatures will increase each day, being generally a degree or two warmer than average over the coming weekend.