Light snowfall in three states as a Christmas present in July

For winter lovers in southeast Australia, a Christmas wish in July came true on Sunday morning. Snow were observed up to a height of almost 400 m.

This is a clear cold air mass moves over the southeast, associated with a persistent southerly airflow around a low pressure area in the Tasman Sea.

As you can see in the loop, low clouds and moist winds moved in from the southwest on Sunday morning, allowing the already cold air mass to interact with the topography and drop snow in low-lying areas of the ACT, higher eastern regions of Victoria and the Central Tablelands of NSW.

Image: Snow flurries at 470m altitude near Merrijig, Victoria, in the valley below Mount Buller on Sunday morning. Image credit: Nic on ski.com.au Forum.

A similar situation occurred in the eastern parts of the Australian Capital Territory, where snow fell up to an altitude of 800 m. Royalla, located right on the border with New South Wales, was covered in a white layer of snow. From Canberra Daily (@canberra_daily) on X:

Beautiful scenes of falling snow this morning around Royalla ??? ?? pic.twitter.com/QhUMRuYz5m

— Canberra Daily (@canberra_daily) July 27, 2024

Elsewhere in NSW, there were brief snowfalls in the Lithgow and Hampton areas after 7am.

City dwellers may have clear skies, but the gusty wind chill from the west made it feel extremely cold throughout the morning, up to 10 degrees cooler than it actually was. Just before 10 a.m. Sydney was colder than freezing when the wind gusts reached storm force Beaufort scale Range.

No matter how cold it may be, Snow is expected in Canberra this evening at 18:15 NRL game tonight. But it will definitely be chilly, with temperatures feeling below zero throughout the game as the westerly wind dies down.

Current information on snow depths and cold weather can be found in our Snow forecasts At our website. Merry Christmas in July!