Roma snowfall: 58 years on Bureau of Meteorology expert says it could happen again

Nearly 60 years after the last time snow fell in Roma, an extremely rare event, weather experts haven’t ruled out the chances of a repeat explaining it could happen again.

Fifty-eight years ago, towns across outback Queensland made headlines after snow was reported falling in parts of the Maranoa region, including in Roma and Eungella.

Outback Queensland is one of the last places people expect snow to fall, so the chance occurrence back on July 19, 1965 has faced some scepticism over the decades.

However, Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Dr Blair Trewin confirmed snow certainly did fall in Roma and nearby towns due to a very particular set of circumstances.

“There was indeed snow in July 1965,” he said.

“There was also snowfall stretching south through quite an extensive band of Queensland; the most significant falls were in the Maranoa, around Roma and Surat and that area.

“There are two things you need for snow.

The Canberra Times reports on regional Queensland's snow in July 1965. Picture: National Library of Australia,

“You need the air mass to be cold enough, which doesn’t happen very often in the tropics, and secondly you need moisture.”

Other parts of the country saw unprecedented snowfall as a result of the cold snap, including Mackay, Tambo and Alpha.

“There was quite an intense low off the coast of far southeast Queensland and southerly winds on the west side of that,” Dr Trewin said.

Climate expert doesn’t rule out chance of snowfall in Roma again, nearly 60 years on from a rare cold snap which saw snowfall across outback Queensland.

“That put more moisture in the system, and we had quite a small but intense pool of cold air in the upper atmosphere — that provided enough instability to push moisture up north.

“The weather systems we saw which produced this event, it’s a rare combination, and it could conceivably happen again.

“But if we did see that combination of weather systems happen again, we’re doing it against a background of a world that’s the best part of a degree warmer than it was in 1965, and that makes it just that much harder to get snow.”

While not completely ruling out potential future snowfall, Dr Trewin said if it did it might be less than the levels seen in 1965.

He said snow reportedly reached down to roughly 800m, but taking into account today’s climate, it would probably recede about 200m and only come down to about 1000m.

Originally published as Roma snowfall: 58 years on Bureau of Meteorology expert says it could happen again