{"id":5822,"date":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/5822\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T09:28:14","slug":"low-level-snow-forecast-for-three-states-as-polar-blast-hits-south-eastern-australia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/5822\/","title":{"rendered":"Low level snow forecast for three states, as polar blast hits south-eastern Australia"},"content":{"rendered":"

Snow as low as 500 metres is forecast to fall across three states on Wednesday and into Thursday, as a blast of polar air sweeps across the south-east of the country.<\/p>\n

A significant cold front is set to move through South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania from Wednesday afternoon into Thursday, bringing a short but sharp mix of wintry conditions, including rain, small hail, snow and brisk winds.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) is forecasting snow as low as 500m in Tasmania, 600m in Victoria and 700\u2013900m in NSW and the ACT during Wednesday night and into Thursday.<\/p>\n

This means that snow flurries are possible for elevated terrains surrounding Hobart, Melbourne and Canberra.<\/p>\n

Loading…<\/p>\n

BOM senior forecaster Jonathan How said the event would mark the lowest snow of the season so far for many, although totals are unlikely to be as big as some forecasts earlier in the week had suggested.<\/p>\n

“Snowfall won’t be huge. Probably looking at around up to 5 to 10 centimetres at the ski resorts,” he said.<\/p>\n

“For other areas, if you’re sort of above 600, 700 metres, you could get some flurries, but it probably won’t settle on the ground overnight.<\/p>\n

“But it will still be very cold.”<\/p>\n

It comes after a run of unseasonably warm weather in recent weeks, which Mr How said may serve as a “shock to the system”.<\/p>\n

Temperatures last Friday soared more than 10 degrees Celsius above average from northern South Australia to southern Tasmania, shattering May records in several states.<\/a><\/p>\n

“Many people have sort of been sort of acclimatised to the late autumn spell of warm weather, so it will be a bit of a short, sharp shock to many,” Mr How said.<\/p>\n

\"Rain<\/p>\n

Rain and showers are forecast for southern parts of Victoria and Tasmania on Thursday, with the chance of small hail. (Supplied: BOM)<\/p>\n

Outside of the elevated areas, rain and showers are expected across parts of South Australia, southern Victoria and Tasmania with the possibility of small hail, including in Melbourne.<\/p>\n

Cold temperatures to extend as far north as NT, Qld<\/p>\n

The system is expected to sweep across the region in a short, sharp fashion, pushing out to the Tasman Sea by tomorrow morning.<\/p>\n

But cold air behind the front, which can be tracked all the way back to near Antarctica, will still plunge daytime temperatures up to 4\u20138 degrees Celsius colder across the day.<\/p>\n

“Towards the south-east, [Thursday] will certainly be the coldest day of the year so far for many people, including Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra,” Mr How said.<\/p>\n

Capital city forecast for ThursdayMelbourne: Maximum 14C, minimum 7CCanberra: Maximum 12C, Minimum 3CHobart: Maximum 13C, Minimum 6CAdelaide: Maximum 17C, Minimum 10C<\/p>\n

The added factor of wind is likely to make it feel even colder.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Icy winds are likely to make the weather feel even colder on Thursday, according to the BOM. (ABC News: Jake Grant)<\/p>\n

“The wind’s pretty much coming directly from the south to south-west. So that does mean very icy winds,” Mr How said.<\/p>\n

“With that wind chill, most places will feel more like single digits.”<\/p>\n

The frigid conditions are also expected to extend north into inland and western New South Wales later on Thursday, and into inland southern Queensland and Central Australia on Friday.<\/p>\n

\"Football<\/p>\n

May snow is not uncommon. In 2000, the Canberra Raiders game kicked off to temperatures of 1C and snow flurries. (ABC News)<\/p>\n

It includes the possibility of frost around Alice Springs on Friday and Saturday morning.<\/p>\n

Kangaroo bogged in dry dam<\/a><\/p>\n

Photos show a kangaroo moments before being rescued from a dam in Central West NSW, after it became bogged in mud while searching for water in an increasingly barren landscape. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, the colder conditions in New South Wales are unlikely to be paired with any rain where regions have faced below-average rain for several months.<\/p>\n

“The bulk of the rain looks to be sort of right down in the south-east corner,” Mr How said.<\/p>\n

From Friday, another high-pressure system will build from the west, with more settled conditions forecast for the weekend.<\/p>\n

Australia’s ‘fickle’ snow season unclear<\/p>\n

Any snow on Australia’s ski resorts this week is unlikely to last long, with another run of milder days beginning next week.<\/p>\n

There’s also little that can be said about what’s to come for the snow season ahead, with early-season falls an unreliable indicator of how the season will play out.<\/p>\n

“Australia’s snow season \u2026 you can describe as being very inconsistent and almost random at times,” Mr How said.<\/p>\n

Don’t assume El Ni\u00f1o warming will bring record heat<\/a><\/p>\n

Australia’s weather pattern is in a reset, and the weather events happening this month will act like the ingredients to determine the flavour of our climate for the rest of the year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In 2024, for example, the season started off strong with snowfall in June and July before a warm August saw ski resorts having to close early.<\/p>\n

Last year, on the other hand, started off poorly but finished well.<\/p>\n

The BOM’s long-range outlook doesn’t give any specific forecasts for snow in the season ahead.<\/p>\n

But early modelling suggests a warmer winter is likely, leaning toward dry in the south east \u2014 in part due to the development of an El Ni\u00f1o event in the Pacific Ocean.<\/p>\n

\"Daytime<\/p>\n

Daytime temperatures in winter are likely to be warmer than normal, according to BOM’s early long-range forecast. (Supplied: BOM)<\/p>\n

“So that sort of tips the odds against a good season,” he said.<\/p>\n

“The other side is, with dry conditions, it does mean less cloud at night, and cooler nights, so that can make for good snowmaking conditions.”<\/p>\n

But Mr How said the snow season could be dictated by just a few weather events, so he wouldn’t write it off just yet.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Snow as low as 500 metres is forecast to fall across three states on Wednesday and into Thursday,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":5823,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[22,21,7118,5408,7119,4420,7117,338],"class_list":{"0":"post-5822","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-australia","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-austrlia","10":"tag-autumn-snow","11":"tag-bureau-of-meteorology","12":"tag-cold-temperatures","13":"tag-polar-blast","14":"tag-snow","15":"tag-weather"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5822\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/5823"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/australia\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}