Cold front brings snow to hills surrounding capital and Parliament House, as well as to NSW’s Goulburn and Tarago

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

On Monday Canberra enjoyed a balmy 25C day. On Tuesday it snowed.

Surprised residents of New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory woke up on Tuesday morning to find up to 15 centimetres of snow had fallen in some regions, directly after one of the warmest days yet of spring.

Kambri at ANU (@Kambri_ANU) Spring has sprung here at Kambri and throughout Canberra as the weather starts to warm up. 📷 @rustyblazeburlesque pic.twitter.com/oQEkzs6B8q

Tulip Penney (@TulipPenney) Golden wattles in full bloom as it’s spring in Canberra. 🌷 pic.twitter.com/SXPiYIGj3N

The snow blanketed places such as Goulburn and Tarago in NSW, the tops of Mount Ainslie and Mount Majura in Canberra, and even fell directly outside Parliament House.

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Greg Hunt (@GregHuntMP) Light snow outside the House of Reps🥶 in Canberra pic.twitter.com/QH0sdJkdOm

Justice NSW (@NSWJustice) Spring in #Goulburn! This is the beautiful sight that greeted staff when they arrived at the city’s majestic courthouse this morning. #snow pic.twitter.com/n87NfWSD1w

Snow closed parts of the Hume Highway on Tuesday morning and the extreme temperature variation left many Canberrans puzzled.

Anthony Sharwood ❄️🍉 (@antsharwood) Today’s Aussie snow pic is from the suburbs of Canberra. It’s common of course to see snow on the Brindabellas, west of the city which rise to 1800m. But these low hills are barely 800m and snowline is about 700m https://t.co/UoLeNxqO0r

Verity Blackman (@VerityBlackman) ❄️ Snow delays on the road to Sydney from Canberra this morning! #roadtrip #snow #Canberra #Goulburn #commuterslife pic.twitter.com/TOooCrYB4m

Abrar Shabren, a forecaster for the Bureau of Meteorology, said the snowfall had been caused by a cold front that moved in from the west overnight.

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“Cold fronts do tend to at this time in the year produce a level of snow,” he said. The sudden snow was “not particularly unusual at this time of year when we are transitioning into spring”.

“It’s not peculiar to have these conditions associated with a cold front and associated trough,” he said.

Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) #Snow has started to fall along the Great Western Highway at #MountBoyce. Stay safe on the roads and drive to the conditions.

The front will then move into NSW where it will create rain along the coastal fringe, and the bureau has issued a flood warning for the Myall, Paterson and Williams rivers and Tuggerah Lake.

Shabren said Canberra could see more snow above 800m for the rest of the day but it was unlikely for Wednesday.

The forecast for Wednesday is a partly cloudy day with a chance of one of two showers.