Even though the Southern Hemisphere is still firmly in the grip of its first month of autumn, parts of New South Wales have been dusted with a surprising blanket of snow. Residents across much of south-eastern Australia have woken to temperatures plummeting into single digits, with some areas in the Central and Southern Tablelands and the Snowy Mountains experiencing readings below freezing point.
Locals in the regions of Orange and Millthorpe were greeted with the unusual sight of snow falling on their morning lawns. Jeremy Black, a resident of Springside near Orange, described the experience of watching the sunrise through snowflakes as “really surreal.” He noted the stark contrast to the previous day, which had seen temperatures soar to around 26 degrees Celsius, making the wintry scene feel particularly odd. Mr. Black confirmed this was the first time he had witnessed snow on his property in March.
“It was a little bit dark when I started making the kids’ lunches. I looked out the window and thought, ‘Is that rain? It’s pretty thick,'” he recalled. “I stepped outside and it was just flakes of snow. As the light came up it just got fluffier and heavier.”
Further afield in Huntley, resident Russell Squire expressed a similar sense of surprise. “It looked more like winter time,” he commented. “It was floating down trees and just drifting around, so it’s quite beautiful.”
Peter Geale, residing at McPhersons Plains near Tumbarumba, shared an intriguing anecdotal prediction for the weather. He told ABC Riverina that he associates the arrival of red robins with impending snowfall. “Would you believe when we get the red robins up here, we get snow?” he asked. “The more red robins we get, the more snow. And the last few days there’s been a few getting about, so I knew it was going to happen shortly.”
Potential for Record-Breaking Cold
The Bureau of Meteorology has indicated that some locations in southern New South Wales could be on track to break temperature records. Forecaster Kate Doyle stated that several areas were expecting their coldest March day on record. “It’s looking like we’ve got some snow down to about 1,400 metres with the possibility of some of those falls south of Orange and the Oberon ranges, so rug up,” she advised.
Temperatures in Orange dipped to a chilly 0.6 degrees Celsius this morning, with a maximum of only 10 degrees forecast for the remainder of the day. “Certainly the cool change has made its presence felt,” Ms. Doyle remarked. The Caboone Shire Council reported that access to the summit of Mount Canobolas in the state’s Central West had been temporarily closed due to approximately 10 centimetres of snow falling this morning.
Low Maximum Temperatures Across the South-East
This unseasonal cold snap is attributed to a polar air mass moving across south-east Australia, coupled with the rapid formation of an intense low-pressure system off the New South Wales coast. This frigid air, which was near the Antarctic coastline only three days prior, has caused maximum temperatures to drop more than 10 degrees Celsius below average across New South Wales, south-western Queensland, and eastern Victoria.
While temperatures are expected to rise slightly over the coming hours, some of the most notable maximum temperatures recorded by 3 pm on this day included:
- Sydney: 16.7°C (Currently the coldest March day since 1938. The March record is 16.2°C set in 1886.)
- Orange: 7°C (The March record is 9.7°C set in 1987.)
- Goulburn: 9.6°C (The March record is 12.7°C set in 2008.)
- Cooma: 8.5°C (The March record is 11.1°C set in 2011.)
- Dubbo: 13.8°C (The March record is 15.2°C set in 1973.)
- Mudgee: 11.3°C (The March record is 15.7°C set in 2005.)
- Parkes: 13.5°C (The March record is 14.9°C set in 1973.)
While the snow has now subsided and is largely confined to the higher alpine regions, the same weather system has delivered much-needed rain to the state’s south-east. Nerriga recorded 62 millimetres of rain by 9 am, with Braidwood receiving 51 millimetres – the town’s heaviest rainfall since July. Although the polar air mass is forecast to move offshore overnight, cool southerly winds are expected to maintain below-average March temperatures into the following day, with minimums predicted to fall below 10 degrees Celsius across much of the inland areas.
