Cold Front Brings Rain, Wind and Light Mountain Snow to Southeast Australia

A significant cold front is set to move through South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania from Wednesday afternoon into Thursday, bringing rain, small hail, snow and brisk winds. Snow as low as 500 metres is forecast across those three states on Wednesday and into Thursday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Snow is forecast as low as 500m in Tasmania, 600m in Victoria and 700–900m in NSW and the ACT during Wednesday night and into Thursday.

This means snow flurries are possible for elevated terrains surrounding Hobart, Melbourne and Canberra. Jonathan How, a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said the event would mark the lowest snow of the season so far for many. "Snowfall won't be huge.

Probably looking at around up to 5 to 10 centimetres at the ski resorts," he said. How added that for areas above 600-700 metres, some flurries are possible but it probably won't settle on the ground overnight. "But it will still be very cold," he said.

The system will plunge daytime temperatures up to 4–8 degrees Celsius colder across the day. "Towards the south-east, Thursday will certainly be the coldest day of the year so far for many people including Melbourne, Adelaide and Canberra," How said. Melbourne's forecast for Thursday is a maximum of 14C and minimum of 7C.

The added factor of wind is likely to make temperatures feel even colder.

"The wind's pretty much coming directly from the south to south-west. So that does mean very icy winds," How said. " Rain and showers are expected across parts of South Australia, southern Victoria and Tasmania with the possibility of small hail including in Melbourne.

The cold air behind the front can be tracked all the way back to near Antarctica. The frigid conditions are expected to extend north into inland and western New South Wales later on Thursday and into inland southern Queensland and Central Australia on Friday. There is the possibility of frost around Alice Springs on Friday and Saturday morning.

"The bulk of the rain looks to be sort of right down in the south-east corner," How said. From Friday another high-pressure system will build from the west with more settled conditions forecast for the weekend. Any snow on Australia's ski resorts this week is unlikely to last long with another run of milder days beginning next week.

It comes after temperatures last Friday soared more than 10 degrees Celsius above average from northern South Australia to southern Tasmania, shattering May records in several states. "Many people have sort of been sort of acclimatised to the late autumn spell of warm weather, so it will be a bit of a short, sharp shock to many," How said.

Australia's snow season can be described as being very inconsistent and almost random at times, How said.

In 2024 the snow season started off strong with snowfall in June and July before a warm August saw ski resorts having to close early. The 2025 snow season started off poorly but finished well. The BOM's long-range outlook does not give any specific forecasts for snow in the season ahead.

Early modelling suggests a warmer winter is likely leaning toward dry in the south east. Early modelling suggests the winter outlook is in part due to the development of an El Niño event in the Pacific Ocean. "So that sort of tips the odds against a good season," How said.

How said the snow season could be dictated by just a few weather events so he wouldn't write it off just yet.