Springtime snow falls across south-east Australia as cold blast grips alpine regions

Snow has fallen in Australia's south-east during the spring season. Snow fell across parts of New South Wales, Victoria and Tasmania.

Thredbo, Perisher and Mount Hotham all recorded falls, and snow also fell on kunanyi, or Mount Wellington, in Hobart, Tasmania.

The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) had forecast the snow in advance. The bureau said that although snow at this time of year is uncommon, it is not entirely unusual — many of the places hit by snow in the past 24 hours also recorded a fall in November 2022.

The sudden snowfall prompted many people to post photos and videos on social media, expressing surprise at the unseasonal weather.

Madeleine McVie, a retail manager at Thredbo, posted a video on Instagram on Saturday afternoon, saying it was hard to believe it was snowing in November, in springtime in Australia. She said it was not just a little snow — it was snowing heavily.

On Sunday morning she posted another video, showing her riding empty chairlifts through the park as the snow continued to fall.

Kingston Crows cricket club in Tasmania posted an image on Saturday of the Kingston Beach Oval coated in hailstones.

The BoM said a weather system filled with cold air moving north from towards Antarctica had caused the wintery chill. South-westerly winds were also making the apparent, or feels-like, temperature lower.

At midday, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Sydney all had temperatures that felt cooler than 13 degrees. The highest temperature at that time was in Adelaide, with a top of 17.5C that felt like 12.3C, while Canberra was the lowest, with a maximum of 12.9C that felt like 5.3C.

Brisbane, Perth and Darwin, meanwhile, were all enjoying temperatures in the 20s or 30s.

Warmer temperatures are forecast for Monday, and all capital cities are expected to reach at least 20C by Tuesday.

It may be one of the last cold snaps of the year. The BoM, as well as the UN and other bodies, have warned about the likely impacts of a very powerful El Nino. The climate crisis, caused by pollution from fossil fuels, is already making extreme weather more severe and killing people. The southern hemisphere summer is predicted to be hotter and drier, meaning greater wildfire risk and drought in Australia and southern Africa.