Snow hits Australian ski fields in unseasonal cold blast

Snow fell on ski fields in New South Wales and Victoria and on kunanyi/Mount Wellington above Hobart over the weekend of 7 and 8 November 2026, as an unseasonal cold blast moved across south-eastern Australia.

The Guardian reported that Thredbo, Perisher and Mount Hotham recorded snowfall on both Saturday and Sunday. A snow stake in Perisher Valley showed snow at 8:18am on Sunday. Thredbo's official weather report said snow was possible above 900 metres.

The cold reached the lowlands too. Kingston Beach Oval was blanketed in hail after a large storm during the blast.

Australia's Bureau of Meteorology had forecast the weekend snowfall for the south-east. The bureau attributed the cold snap to cold air moving north from Antarctica, with south-westerly winds lowering apparent temperatures. The apparent or "feels-like" temperature is a measure of how cold the air feels on the skin once wind is taken into account.

At midday on Sunday, Adelaide, Melbourne, Hobart, Canberra and Sydney all had feels-like temperatures below 13C, according to The Guardian's report.

Many of the places that received snow this weekend also recorded snowfall in November 2022.