Canberrans woke to snow-capped mountains over town as a polar snap brought wild weather to the southeast. Photo: Michelle Kroll.
It’s been a mixed bag off the back of a series of cold fronts sweeping southeast NSW and the ACT: Canberrans waking to snow on the Brindabellas, dumpings of fresh powder in the Snowies and the Illawarra and South Coast hit with strong winds that brought down trees and powerlines.
Perisher recorded 40 cm of powder in the past 24 hours (to 9 am, 26 June).
The dumping came after a slow pre-season which caused jitters among local businesses.
But locals said consistent sub-zero temperatures and a few big snow falls have now created the best early season conditions in years.
Resorts have been able to open terrain earlier than in the past two years.
Perisher’s senior communications manager Dani Wright said: “We’ve got 26 lifts running and 31 groomed runs today and it’s a perfect bluebird day, so the smiles are wide at Perisher today.”
The snowfall has allowed Perisher to schedule the opening of its new $26 million six-seater chair lift on Mt Perisher.
“Our brand new Mt Perisher 6, a high-speed six-seater chairlift almost halving the time up Mt Perisher to the highest lifted point in Australia, is opening for the first time tomorrow, Friday 27 June,” Ms Wright said.
Perisher’s new six seater chairlift will open on Friday. Photo: Supplied.
But while the mountains were celebrating it was a different story on the coast, where the same cold fronts brought wild winds causing property damage and power outages.
In the Illawarra, gusts as high as 117 km/h were recorded, sparking a fire at Mt Ousley near Wollongong, where 32 firefighters were deployed to battle a blaze thought to have been caused by downed powerlines.
Almost 20,000 people were left without power, some for 24 hours. Power was returned to most homes by Thursday (26 June).
The SES received thousands of calls across the incident area that stretched across the Illawarra and South Coast. They responded to 384 incidents in Illawarra on Tuesday (24 June) alone.
Assistant Commissioner Allison Flaxman said it was important people kept clear of damaged buildings and fallen trees.
“In the Illawarra, NSW SES crews have been assisting with the clean up at several schools, medical facilities and properties which have seen damage to roofs, fencing and sheds,” she said.
The latest cold front is predicted pass the region after Thursday, with a high pressure system forecast to bring back clear frosty mornings to Canberra and surrounding regions over the weekend.
According to Weatherzone, minimum temperatures between -3 and -5 degrees are forecast for Canberra until the end of the month.
This means the Territory’s on track for its coldest average monthly minimum temperature on record for June.
