{"id":776652,"date":"2026-07-03T14:51:19","date_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/776652\/"},"modified":"2026-07-03T14:51:19","modified_gmt":"2026-07-03T14:51:19","slug":"ski-resorts-stoked-as-winter-snow-finally-arrives-in-victoria-and-nsw-australia-weather","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/776652\/","title":{"rendered":"Ski resorts \u2018stoked\u2019 as winter snow finally arrives in Victoria and NSW | Australia weather"},"content":{"rendered":"

An overnight cold front has swept across south-east Australia, bringing significant snowfall to much of the high country after a largely snowless start to winter.<\/p>\n

Almost 30cm of snow was reported on Friday in areas including Thredbo and Perisher in New South Wales<\/a> and Mount Hotham in Victoria.<\/p>\n

Casey McCarthy from the Bureau of Meteorology said snow showers were expected to continue through Friday across the Victorian Alps and the Snowy Mountains in NSW.<\/p>\n

\u201c[It] could pick up another 10 to 20 centimetres \u2026 more likely to towards upper slopes.\u201d<\/p>\n

The weather event comes after large parts of the country\u2019s east coast recorded some of the warmest starts to winter.<\/p>\n

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, \u201cthe atmosphere has been too warm to allow snow to fall anywhere but the very highest peaks\u201d.<\/p>\n

Andrew Watkins, a climatologist and Climate Council expert, said that the delay to the beginning of winter has been a trend that started in \u201cthe middle of last century\u201d, associated with El Ni\u00f1o and other climate change factors.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve already seen about a 30% decline in the snow depth, but also similar declines in the length of the snow season as well,\u201d the Monash University adjunct professor said. \u201cWe\u2019re also expecting a further 30% decline from where we are now through to the middle of this century.\u201d<\/p>\n

Watkins said this ski season \u201ccould be as much as three weeks shorter than what we\u2019ve seen in the past\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wait is over \u2026 snow has returned\u201d<\/p>\n

Snow resorts across the east-coast have celebrated the shift.<\/p>\n

Mount Hotham reported 30cm of fresh snow in 48 hours, and said it was \u201cstill coming down\u201d on Friday. The ski resort added that it \u201ccouldn\u2019t be more stoked\u201d to see the site \u201cblanketed in white and snow guns firing across the resort again\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe wait is over \u2026 snow has returned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Perisher ski resort said Thursday night delivered \u201cthe real treat\u201d. The site reported 20cm of snow and said it was \u201cfinally looking, and feeling, like winter again\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor a couple of weeks there, we were starting to wonder where winter had got to. Then, almost as if Perisher had been listening to everyone\u2019s hopes, the snow found its way back,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n

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A snowboarder gets some air time at Perisher in 2022. Photograph: Mike Bowers\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Neighbouring Thredbo reported 28cm of total snowfall, adding that the \u201cteam have hit the ground running\u201d and taken the opportunity to run snowmaking machines.<\/p>\n

In an update to its site, Weatherzone said the change came \u201cjust in time for the school holidays\u201d, adding that \u201cup until [Friday], mainland Australia\u2019s ski resorts have been able to open only the most basic beginner slopes on thin ribbons of snowmaking snow\u201d.<\/p>\n

Affected winter plans<\/p>\n

Watkins said compounding factors including tropical weather events and global heating are reducing the chances of snow and increasing the chance of rain.<\/p>\n

\u201cNot only does rain not bring snow, but it actually kills the snow that\u2019s already there, so it\u2019s a double whammy,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cAussies who do like skiing \u2026 should expect their winter plans to be impacted going forward with these shorter seasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He said these factors are hurting the skiing industry.<\/p>\n

The 56-year-old, who has been an avid skier for more than 40 years, has already bought season tickets for the family\u2019s school holiday visit next week, but said the unpredictability of the winter seasons have made him wary.<\/p>\n

\u201cI ski with both my daughters, the youngest one is 16,\u201d Watkins said. \u201cI sit on the lift with her and cross my fingers, and hope that she gets to experience a lifetime of skiing like I have, and gets to see these beautiful places in all their glory throughout her life.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got to reduce our emissions. It\u2019s the only real way, for the long term, for my daughter and her kids to be able to ski on a regular basis as well. Luckily, some of our resorts are just high enough to get us through my lifetime and maybe hers, but the lower resorts are the ones that have already suffered a lot.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"An overnight cold front has swept across south-east Australia, bringing significant snowfall to much of the high country…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":776653,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,44],"class_list":["post-776652","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776652","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=776652"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/776652\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/776653"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=776652"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=776652"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=776652"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}