A hail storm in Central Australia that turned the Red Centre white has been met with a mix of joy and bewilderment.

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The ice blanketed the ground around Alice Springs on Saturday afternoon, with people stopping their cars on the roads out of the town to capture the phenomenon.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Angeline Prasad described the event as "unusual".

"Hail can happen at any time of the year, but [it is] more common during spring and summer."

Ms Prasad said the hail fell when the temperature was around 24 degrees Celsius.

Samantha Nicole Brown's photo of family fun in the hail on the side of the road at Alice Springs. ( Supplied: Samantha Nicole Brown )

"All storms have hail in them ... by the time the hail falls through the storm, if the temperatures are warm enough they do melt into rain droplets.

"In this instance the draft was probably strong enough to keep the hail in ice form when it hit the ground."

The hailstones themselves were too small to be of any danger.

"The hail has to be at least two centimetres in diameter for it to be classified as a severe storm," she said.

Sandy Berlowitz Cole remembered "an old drover friend telling me it snowed 60 years ago around the Alice but no one would believe him!"

Upon seeing a photo of a barefooted woman playing in the ice, Victorian Cate Keane offered the suggestion "someone needs to tell the lady on the left that snow is cold, and that's when we put shoes on".

Despite the photographic proof, not everyone was convinced.

"I lived there and I've never seen ice," said Claudine Rey.

"I can't believe what I'm seeing," said Verna Nelson.

"It looks like November in the northern United States," said American Charles Schoeneberger.

The forecast for Sunday in Alice Springs is 23C, with a 50 per cent chance of rain, with no mention of hail.