Brrr-ing it on: Stanthorpe braces for flurry of snowchasers
By Nick Dent
There’s something in the air around Queensland’s Granite Belt, and it’s got the locals talking.
“It feels different,” says Leeanne Gangemi-Puglisi.
“It’s been a little bit more wet, and it needs to be wet for it to snow. And you need conditions to be cold, but not freezing.
Quart Pot Creek in Stanthorpe is a white wonderland after snowfalls in July 2015.Credit: Shane Andersen
“I’m a local – lived here my whole life – and every 10 years or so, we get a dump. And we are due for that dump.”
Gangemi-Puglisi runs Ballandean Estate Wines, about 25 kilometres south of Stanthorpe. Winter is the winery’s busiest season, but the possibility of snow this weekend means she expects an avalanche of day trippers.
“My restaurant was already fully booked out. Our wine tasting room is full on Saturday, but we’ve got a few spots on Sunday.
“We love it when there’s snow. We’re all looking forward to it.”
While it’s not a done deal, Christie Johnson from the Bureau of Meteorology says a low-pressure system developing off the New South Wales coast and moving north-west means snow flurries are a possibility for the Granite Belt on Friday and Saturday, with forecast lows of 0 degrees.
“Having come from a south-easterly direction, it’ll have come off the water and there will be a bit more moisture with it, so we might actually see the coldest air lining up with a little bit of moisture,” Johnson says.
“It does look like the snow level could drop to 1200 metres, which means the highest points of the Granite Belt, perhaps around Girraween [National Park], could see some flurries.”
A kangaroo at Ballandean Estate Wines during the last major snowfalls in 2015.Credit: Leeanne Gangemi-Puglisi
For the region, there’s no business like snow business. A spokesperson from Southern Downs Regional Council said the potential for falls always causes a spike in tourism.
“Winter bookings on the Granite Belt are very solid, with minimal vacancies,” they said.
“We encourage people to book early for accommodation and restaurants – and to drive carefully.”
Helen Gosney is one of the organisers of the biennial Snowflakes in Stanthorpe Festival, for which a snow machine is brought down from Brisbane.
While the recent festival attracted about 20,000 visitors, real snow can draw substantially more people.
“We’re the closest you can get to see snow in Queensland, and it’s a lot of excitement when it does happen,” says Gosney, who remembers the last big dump, in July 2015.
“That funny sloshing sound on the roof, and you know it’s not rain, it’s snow. It was blanketed everywhere.”
Gangemi-Puglisi recalls phones going off at midnight as it started to fall.
“I was out in the snow taking video for the kids. So we’re all hoping that maybe Friday night, Saturday morning might be the same thing. It would be magnificent.”
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