Australia Weather News

As bushfires rage out of control in Victoria and parts of Queensland count the cost of recent floods, residents in the NSW Snowy Mountains woke this morning to find snow on the ground. 

The Bureau of Meteorology had forecast snow to fall above 1,700 metres today, but some locals have reported sightings of snow flurries as low as Cooma at 800m elevation. 

Errol Hanlon from the Thredbo Alpine Museum said snow settled on shady ground, car windscreens, back decks and some rooftops around the village.

"We definitely woke up to a snow flurry," he said.

"It's an early present for all the little kids running around in their pyjamas this morning trying to make snowballs and snowmen."

Thredbo Top Station recorded a low of -2.3 degrees Celsius just before 8am, a stark contrast to other parts of northern NSW where total fire bans have been declared.

Mr Hanlon described snowfall at this time of year as "unusual", especially given the 30-degree temperatures experienced last week. 

"The climate here is as radical as the rest of Australia," he said.

"It's swings and roundabouts and it's pretty hard to predict.

"This is the first time this has happened in the last eight or nine years."

No white Christmas

As exciting as it is to see snow fall in summertime, it is not expected to last. 

Mountainwatch.com editor Reggae Ellis said a southerly cold front blew in quickly during the night, causing temperatures to plummet.

"If it gets to around 0 degrees, which can happen pretty quickly with cold air coming out of the Southern Ocean straight off Antarctica, you'll get showers falling as snow," he said.

"You get these cold changes, but it's very unusual to get a blanket of snow covering the ground."

He said snow settled on the mountain bike tracks above Thredbo but disappeared as the sun warmed up the ground.

Mr Ellis said he did not expect it to stick around, especially until Christmas Day. 

"It's mainly sunny now, with a cold southerly wind," he said. 

"It's going to be 27 degrees in Jindabyne on Christmas Day, so you'll need to keep the prawns and the beers on ice.

"It won't be like winter."