Mega Blizzard arrives tomorrow!
By Pete ‘The Frog’ Taylor – snowatch.com.au
Tomorrow will see a polar blast freeze the South East of Australia. It should start tomorrow morning with snow falling in the South Australian highlands by late morning. Not something you see very much at all.
The snowy mountains resorts will see light snow starting early on Tuesday with snowfalls above 1200m increasing during the day and lowering as the day progresses down to around 600m overnight. Winds will be gale force and above about the peaks with blizzard conditions likely.
By the afternoon into early evening we should see snow reaching areas like The Grampians and Dandenongs in Victoria and possibly even on the outskirts of Melbourne at times. NSW will see snow overnight in areas like Cooma, Canberra, and spreading up into the Jenolan Caves, Goulburn, Lithgow and Orange by Wednesday morning. Much of Tasmania will also be painted white.
Roads will be hazardous throughout the highlands and closures are more than likely due to snow.
A Sheep Graziers Alert has been issued by the Bureau of Meteorology for the following areas in NSW – South West Slopes and parts of the Central Tablelands, Southern Tablelands, Central West Slopes & Plains, Riverina and Snowy Mountains. And in Victoria – Mallee, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central, North East, South West, Central, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland districts.
The timing of this could not be better for those on school holidays with plenty of snow to play in. The NSW and Victorian snow resorts will once again be turned into a winter wonderland after last weeks rain had washed a fair bit of snow away. There should be around 35-50cm of fresh snow falling in the resorts across Tuesday and early Wednesday. Only downside is the winds will be very strong during this time, possibly reaching 120km/h about the peaks, so some lift closures are possible until the winds ease later on Wednesday.
Thursday should see the sun come out and we should see cool clear nights (good for snowmaking) and sunny days over the weekend, creating the best conditions so far for season 2016 in the resorts.
Snowatch is forecasting more snow across the 19th-21st.
For more detailed snow forecasts check out snowatch.com.au
