Rare snow in Australia as Antarctic chill sweeps eastern states
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Version 0 of 1. Related: Cold front brings best snowfall to southern Queensland in decades Snow has fallen in parts of Australia where such falls are so rare the weather bureau does not have the tools to measure it as temperatures plunged to more than 10 degrees below average. Antarctic air pushed up through central New South Wales and on to Queensland – known as the Sunshine State – over the past week bringing on a winter cold front not seen in some parts since the mid-1980s. In Queensland, snow fell in Stanthorpe, Eukey and on the south east border with NSW, but Bureau of Meteorology (Bom) forecaster Gorrdon Banks said the bureau was having trouble measuring it. “We don’t actually measure the depth of snow fall, it’s so rare here in Queensland that really all we have to go on are rain gauges,” he said. “We didn’t really have any official observations that snow was recorded, just reports from the public and just from the vision, I think we can say it was in the range of 2 to 5cm [one to two inches].” Queensland has not seen snowfall such as this since 1984 and it has also recorded some of it lowest temperatures for July in more than 30 years with some areas near the border dropping to -4 degrees (24.8 °F). Banks said towns such as Stanthorpe, Applethorpe and Warwick had their lowest maximums in 20 years as they struggled to reach 4 to 5 degrees. The average maximum for July in those areas is 15 to 18 degrees. In NSW snowfalls of almost 20cm were recorded in places that usually only see two falls a year, of less than 10cm. Blackheath in the Blue Mountains, 128km (80 miles) from Sydney, recorded 19cm of snow. Oberon in the tablelands had 15cm and Katoomba and Glen Innes had 10cm. NSW Bom forecaster Neil Fraser said NSW was unlikely to see a cold snap such as this later this year and it saw the maximum for the state, in the north, peak at 17 degrees. In Sydney, the city had its coldest average minimum temperatures for July since 1971 with most nights hovering around 7 degrees. Related: Snow in Australia: share your photos and stories with us “It was very cold Antarctic air from a long way south right over NSW, which started off in western Victoria and tracked up through inland NSW and reached north east NSW, then went in to south east of Queensland,” Fraser said. “It’s now moved off the coast ... the snow is mostly over, for now.” Average temperatures across the state are expected to return to normal over the weekend. “There’s no more cold outbreaks in the coming week, we have a week of none of this type of event. Later in winter we could get another cold outbreak, but it is not likely,” Banks said. |