NSW snow: Big freeze causes snowfalls from Goulburn to Katoomba

SNOW fell from Goulburn to Katoomba and as far north as Armidale in NSW this morning.

A SNOWSTORM has shutdown highways and left people stranded in their cars outside of Sydney this morning.

Over 10cm of snow has been dumped on Katoomba and has been felt as far north as Armidale and south as Goulburn as NSW’s cold snap intensifies to its most frigid conditions yet.

Snow has closed The Great Western Highway from Wentworth Falls to Orange, The Mitchell Highway from Orange to Bathurst, and the New England Highway from Glen Innes to Armidale.

Bells Line of Road has also been closed, leaving no way for motorists to travel between Sydney and Lithgow.

A garbage truck tries to get on with the job in Katoomba overnight. Picture: Top Notch Video

State Emergency Service spokeswoman Jenni North said they had worked with police and the Rural Fire Service to set up refuge stations to taken stranded drivers in the Blue Mountains.

“We’ve had about 30 requests overnight a large part of those involving assisting stranded motorists due to the snowfall across widespread areas,” Ms North said.

“We’ve set up a couple of refuge stations to take the stranded motorists to those areas because they’re unable to travel in the cold conditions.

“We had about 25 people in those centres a little while ago and the SES is providing them with shelter and welfare until the conditions clear and they can return to their vehicles.”

Katoomba became a winter wonderland overnight thanks to significant snowfalls. Picture: Top Notch Video

Motorists in affected areas have been advised to avoid all non-essential travel with many roads blocked as the extreme conditions are expected to continue through the morning.

Snow has fallen at elevations between 600m-1000m where towns like Katoomba, Orange and Armidale are situated with overnight temperatures close to zero.

Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Dimitri Danchuk said the snowy conditions were expected to ease tomorrow.

“The main reason for the cold snap that’s continuing over NSW is the east coast low pressure system that’s currently off the Illawarra coast and a high pressure system over the Great Australian Bite,” Mr Danchuk said.

Stranded ... Motorists heading over the Blue Mountains can’t go anywhere after road closures. Picture: Top Notch Video

“Those two systems the high and the low combine to direct deep cold southerly stream over south eastern Australia.

“Coming from the latitudes around Tasmania and south of it and this cold air of Antarctic origin is coming across alpine areas into central and northern parts of NSW.

“Today appears to be the last day for snow because it will become drier tomorrow. The low pressure system will contract and pull all the rainfall with it to the Tasman.”

Ella Moran at Bowral golf course where a round of golf would be quite difficult today. Picture: Anthony Moran

####