Cold front lays the foundations for a solid ski season in Victoria and New South Wales

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

A cold snap across the south-east of Australia is starting to lay the foundations for a solid ski season in Victoria and New South Wales, while people in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra are shivering through a chilly end to autumn.

The Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Sarah Scully said one cold front had come through on Monday and a second was moving up through Tasmania. “It’s expected to push into Victoria tonight,” Scully said.

Melbourne residents are warned to rug up with the temperatures expected to reach a maximum of 12C on Wednesday.

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“Windy conditions with showers, small hail and snow expected today and tomorrow,” Scully said.

Hobart and Canberra will reach a maximum of 10C on Wednesday. Monday’s maximum temperature of 9.1C at Canberra airport was the coolest May day since 2000.

Sydneysiders are struggling through chilly conditions on Tuesday but the full force of the icy blast won’t reach it until Thursday with a maximum of 18C forecast, Scully said.

Snow is expected at 500 metres in Tasmania and 600 metres for Victoria. Warnings have also been issued for Tasmanian bushwalkers.

Anthony Sharwood ❄️🍉 (@antsharwood) Today's Aussie snow pics, both taken on Monday, are two roads:

1. The trail head at Mt St Gwinear, a X-country ski area about two hours from Melbourne. (Pic by Erica Ski Hire)

2. A road at Mt Buller, VIC. (Pic by Buller) pic.twitter.com/fXHFyEIH50

Scully said 20-40cm of snow fell across the Victorian and NSW alpine regions with the first cold front.

“Once this second stronger front moves through you can expect another 10-30cm of snowfall. That will end up giving them a base of between 50-70cm, which is a really good start to the ski season,” Scully said.

The official ski seasons in Victoria and the Snowy Mountains in NSW begin on the Queen’s birthday long weekend on 8 June.

A Mt Buller spokeswoman, Rhylla Morgan, said in the last 48 hours about 30cm of snow had fallen on the Victorian peak.

“We’re bracing for a big snowstorm to come across this afternoon … we might be seeing another 20-30cm at least,” Morgan told Guardian Australia.

The natural snowfall is complementing artificial snowmaking efforts, she said.

“It’s kind of like making lasagne on the ski runs, we’ve got to get all those nice layers happening,” Morgan said.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Natural snowfall is complementing artificial snowmaking efforts in alpine regions. Mt Baw Baw in Victoria. Photograph: Mt Baw Baw

Families had started to make day trips to the mountain to build snowmen and play in the snow, she said.

Emergency services retrieved eight people in vehicles that were stuck in snow near Mt Hotham overnight.

A group travelling in two four-wheel drives came across another group from NSW whose vehicles had become bogged on Blue Rag Range Track on Monday afternoon. While trying to assist them, their own vehicles became stuck.

The group of four adults and four children had enough supplies and shelter to last the night and were rescued on Tuesday morning.

All occupants are safe and well, police said.

Hotham (@_hotham) No shortage of #snow at #Hotham. #Snowmobile deep with 30cm still to come! #coldsnap pic.twitter.com/EBAStAuhYw

The cold front is bringing damaging winds of 80 to 90km/hour across the Alpine peaks in NSW above 1,900 metres later on Tuesday and blizzard conditions are likely.

Damaging winds are also expected across the Central Tablelands, Blue Mountains, Southern Tablelands, Illawarra and parts of the Snowy Mountains district on Wednesday.

Thredbo (@ThredboResort) 20cms and counting 😝🙏❄️ Winter has arrived 👊 Yeah baby... pic.twitter.com/q1um0OJS53

A Thredbo spokeswoman, Susie Diver, said there was a –19C wind chill factor in the village.

“Not many people are braving the elements today,” she said. “Down here in the village all the rooftops are dusted in snow. It’s like a winter wonderland.”

Diver is hopeful of a cracker start to the ski season. “We’ve had 25cm of snow in 24 hours,” she said.

Perisher Ski Resort (@PerisherResort) Snow my gosh 🌨😍 It’s really coming down! https://t.co/XkUGXjAnNk pic.twitter.com/y9qiefpQ08

Central Victoria is also bracing for icy conditions. In Ballarat the temperature will peak at 7C on Wednesday.

There has been some snow around the Ballarat region and Daylesford on Monday.

The Kryal Castle hotel manager, Shane Keanelly, said snow had begun falling around the central Victorian tourist attraction on Monday morning but was mostly melting.

“It gathered a little bit, there were small pockets of snow,” he said.

He lamented the cold weather was keeping visitor numbers down.

Tony (3086) (@TonyDoran09) Dusting of snow outside Daylesford in Victoria today. #centralhighlands pic.twitter.com/7KVj0eAN0e