Wild weather to blast Australia’s southeast with extreme winds, dangerous surf, snow
An Aussie ski resort has been snowed in amid an icy polar blast sweeping through Australia’s southeast - and the frigid conditions are set to continue.
Holidaymakers in Victoria’s alpine region have been snowed in as an “icy polar blast” swept through Australia’s southeast overnight.
A video posted to social media showed accommodation at Hotham Alpine Resort surrounded by snow metres in height.
A guest can be seen digging his way of a door and climbing to the top of a mound of snow outside of his Mount Hotham villa.
The ski resort recorded 30cm of snow in the past 24hrs.
Weatherzone reported temperatures dropped to -4C in southeastern parts of the country 1500m above sea level.
A chilly cold front with cool showers was being pushed through by strong west to south-westerly winds making it feel up to 7C colder than the actual temperature.
The icy conditions are expected to continue over the next two days, with Victoria and southern NSW set for an even colder day on Thursday.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said the cold fronts would move out to the Tasman Sea, but it would be a frosty start to the morning.
Morning frost will blanket inland Victoria before clearing to sunny conditions across the north.
Gippsland can expect a few passing showers, while Melbourne is set for brisk winter’s day with a top of 13C.
Cold air from the fronts will continue to linger across NSW which should bring snow to the alpine regions, and rain along the coastal fringe.
Windy conditions along the east coast will create hazardous surf conditions on The Central Coast for most of the day, seeing Sydney reach a top of 16C.
Canberra will be in for a “very chilly start” on Thursday reaching a high of 11C.
Queenslanders can also expect a frosty start to the day in central and southern parts of the state, with a few showers hitting Brisbane, reaching a top of 20C.
Southern parts of South Australia can expect morning fog and frost, along with a few light showers.
Adelaide is in for a cool day, with a top of 15C.
Western Australia’s southwest will wake to a frosty start, with conditions extending across the southern interior, Goldfields, and Gascoyne regions.
Showers could pass through the southwest but won’t reach as far as Perth, which is set for a dry and sunny day reaching a high of 20C.
It will be cool, dry and windy across the Northern Territory with a south-easterly surging through central regions.
Southern parts of the NT will also have a frosty start which will clear into a dry and sunny day, except for the Top End which has a slight chance of showers and a top of 32C.
On Wednesday, Australia’s southeastern coastline was at risk as blistering winds, dangerous surf and snow blasts.
Wind gusts of up to 117km/h lashed Mount Buller – a resort town in Victoria’s east – and snow falls of up to 50cm are tipped to hit ski resorts in the coming days.
Sky News meteorologist Marina Neuman warned the “entire coastline” in the country’s southeast remained at risk.
“We are seeing very high tides right now, as well as damaging surf warnings and coastal hazard warnings from those strong wind gusts,” Ms Neuman said.
The SES confirmed on Wednesday they received 145 callouts overnight as heavy rain and strong winds ripped through areas of South Australia and Victoria.
Winds in Mount William reached 98km/h, 91km/h in Horsham and wind gusts of more than 100km/h were recorded on SA’s Neptune Island.
Meteorologists are advising people to steer clear of alpine regions, warning that blizzard conditions, low visibility, and strong winds made the mountains hazardous.
“We are looking at some heavy snowfall. It’s good news because earlier, rainfall diminished a lot of that existing snowfall, but we have plenty underway to replace it,” Ms Neuman said.
“So, this is again great news, but we want to avoid the mountains right now. Very low visibility, blizzard conditions with that snowfall and the strong and damaging wind gusts the mountains are currently experiencing.”
The Bureau of Meteorology’s Morgan Pumpa said temperatures were expected to drop further as winds ease from Thursday.
“Tomorrow is going to be much colder, easing off completely with wind, (so) clearer skies and really cold temperatures over the next six days,” she said.
“Post a cold front is a good time to get that widespread frost and chilly temperatures. For those winter cold temperatures you need calm, so (we’re) expecting very cold and frosty conditions for areas away from the coast.”
On Tuesday night, the mercury dropped as low as -4.3C at Hotham, -2.7C in Baw Baw and 0C in Bendigo.
The Bureau has issued severe weather warnings in coastal areas of southeastern Australia and adjacent regions further inland, including parts of SA, Victoria, NSW, northern Tasmania and the ACT.
Meteorologist Angus Hines earlier said strong winds would be “the most significant weather element” in “many parts of the country”.
“For South Australia we’re looking at damaging winds for parts of the Yorke Peninsula around Adelaide, the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island and the southeast,” he said.
“For Victoria it’s almost everywhere on and south of the mountain ranges. For Tasmania, just the northeast coast as well as the islands of the Bass Strait. And for NSW and the ACT, the warning area covers most of the mountain ranges.”
“Through these areas, winds could gust above 90km an hour over the next couple of days, potentially in the mountains that could be 110 or 120km an hour. That is exceptionally strong wind, absolutely strong enough to bring down trees and branches.”
Mr Hines said strong winds could make for hazardous driving conditions, and urged drivers of at-risk vehicles like motorcycles, camper vans and buses to exercise caution.
The BOM noted a pair of cold fronts would be sweeping through mere hours apart, creating chilly conditions.
“This windy weather pattern has two cold fronts. The first one races across Australia on Tuesday, that is rapidly followed up by another one, which follows almost exactly the same path overnight and into Wednesday morning,” he said.
“It’s these two weather features back to back, giving us this prolonged spell of unsettled, wintry weather.”
Rainfall is expected over the next two days in parts of Northern Victoria and Southern New South Wales; two regions which have been enduring drought conditions since summer.
Snowfall may also be seen in parts of New South Wales, and even the Blue Mountains according to BOM meteorologist Miriam Bradbury.
“We’re also expecting a very low snow level for tomorrow, down to around 700m (above sea level) or so in the morning,” Ms Bradbury said.
“That means we are likely to see snow about the southern ranges, but we could also see snow reaching the Blue Mountains, the Canberra Hills, even flurries as far north as the Barrington Tops.”
The nation’s capital is bracing for a particularly chilly Wednesday, with a low of 1C and a top of 8C.
Victoria is expected to endure “strong and gusty winds,” isolated showers and even some hail throughout Wednesday, and southerly winds will keep max temperatures below 15C across most of the state.
Parts of northern Tasmania will experience highs of 11C, while Hobart will reach a high of 10C.
South Australia’s wild weather will mostly recede by Wednesday afternoon, with Adelaide reaching a high of 15C and inland parts of the state reaching highs of 19C.
WA is experiencing much milder conditions, with Perth reaching a high of 19C, Esperance reaching a high of 17C and Exmouth hitting a max of 24C.
Tropical North Queensland temperatures will climb as high as 29C in Weipa and 28 in Cairns, while Brisbane will hit 23C and Birdsville will reach 19C.
Up in the territory, Darwin is expected to reach 32C and Alice Springs will hit 18C.
Winds are expected to recede and temperatures are expected to rise again slightly by Wednesday morning in South Australia, and by Wednesday night for coastal areas of New South Wales.
Originally published as Wild weather to blast Australia’s southeast with extreme winds, dangerous surf, snow
‘We have a buyer for TikTok’: Trump teases fate of China app
US President Donald Trump has shared news regarding TikTok, which faces a looming ban in the United States due to its Chinese ownership. See what he said.
Trump hones in on Iran report leaker
US President Donald Trump has taken aim at those he believes responsible for leaking a “low confidence” intelligence assessment about his strikes on Iran.