South-east Australia is set to shiver through a winter cold snap this week, with some areas experiencing subzero temperatures and others up to 8C below average.
Bureau of Meteorologist senior meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said the bitter air mass moving across the region would bring daytime temperatures “several degrees” below average across large parts of Australia until the end of the week.
“We are expecting a return of very cold mornings with minimum temperatures expected to drop to four to eight degrees below average from Tuesday onwards across large parts of Victoria, Tasmania … parts of New South Wales and eastern South Australia,” she said.
“Widespread frost is expected with possibly severe frost across some inland parts where temperatures are likely to drop below -2 degrees.
“These very cold nights may even to extend to Central Australia by Wednesday and Thursday morning as well.”
The strong cold front that moved across south-eastern Australia over the weekend brought rain, hail and snow – settling as low as 150 metres above sea level in Tasmania’s south for brief periods.
Parts of Hobart woke to streets blanketed in white on Monday morning after the flurry overnight, with snow levels pushed down to 300 metres.
“In far southern parts of Tasmania snow flurries were also observed at sea level,” Bradbury said.
“Snow levels in Tasmania are expected to … remain around 700 to 800 metres into early Tuesday morning.”
The low level snow has prompted a bushwalkers and road weather alert for large parts of Tasmania amid frosty roads and possible black ice.
Snow at #AllensRivulet this morning. The dogs are loving it! 🕸️🐕🐶🕸️ pic.twitter.com/XZ2zkJ1wQa
— Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania (@BOM_Tas) July 17, 2022
Hazardous conditions forced the closure of Tasmania’s Cradle Mountain Road on Monday, while parts of the Lyell Highway also had to shut amid snow and ice.
The frigid air mass has brought icy temperatures that will stay for the remainder of the week.
Launceston was forecast to reach a chilly -4C on Tuesday, hovering around -3C until the weekend, while Hobart, dubbed “Snowbart”, reached a high of 8C on Monday afternoon – around 5C below the monthly average.
#Snow is retreating to higher elevations in #Tasmania for the rest of the day, but #MacquarieIsland is still going strong. https://t.co/MIDA8CEDeE pic.twitter.com/lhddrkJCYm
— Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania (@BOM_Tas) July 18, 2022
“There is snow on elevated roads about parts of western, central and southern Tasmania today and we’ll likely see widespread frost on roads … in coming days in most areas,” the bureau warned.
“Icy roads will make driving conditions dangerous in most parts of Tasmania on Tuesday morning.”
Farther north, possible “severe frosts” were forecast to hit parts of Victoria, with below average temperatures across the east coast after bitter weekend conditions.
Up early with the baby, for a little #joy !
— annabarbarella (@annabarbarella) July 17, 2022
Thanks for waking me up Finnegan 🖤#snowbart #tasmania #snow !! pic.twitter.com/ItzRoZGu8Z
Melbourne was hovering around 11C on Monday afternoon – about 3C below the median monthly average. Early fog was forecast for Wednesday and Thursday mornings with a minimum temperature of 1C.
On the weekend, winds of up to 107 km/h were reported at Mt Buller on Saturday, while St Kilda harbour was lashed with 83 km/h winds.
A sheep graziers warning remained in place for Tasmania and Victoria amid the “cold and fairly breezy conditions” following the front.
In the ACT, minimum temperatures were forecast to drop below zero from Tuesday morning onwards, with morning frost.
Blizzards incoming 🚨 🌨 pic.twitter.com/lX57pn5kH1
— Mt Buller (@mtbuller) July 16, 2022
A marine wind warning was active across every state and territory excluding the Northern Territory, with the strong gales expected to lash large parts of the nation’s coastline.
While flooding in New South Wales has eased, showers were forecast to return on Tuesday and linger all week in large parts of the state including Sydney, where there was more than a 90% chance of showers from Tuesday through to Sunday.
Sydney was already having its wettest July on record. As of 15 July, it had recorded about 340mm of rainfall, more than three times the monthly average.
It took just a fortnight to break the previously held 1950 record of 336.1mm.
#Sydney is now having its wettest July on record! As of 9am on July 14, the city had seen 342.2mm since the start of the month, beating the old July record of 336.1mm from 1950. This brings Sydney's running annual total to 1889.6mm, its wettest year-to-date on record by >300mm. pic.twitter.com/0AQqXnOuSW
— Ben Domensino (@Ben_Domensino) July 14, 2022
Bradbury said snow levels in Victoria and southern alpine NSW would remain at about 800 metres into early Tuesday when conditions lifted.
“Conditions are forecast to ease going into Tuesday as the next ridge of high pressure moves in,” Bradbury said.
Four flood warnings were still active across NSW for the Macquarie, Bogan, Lachlan and Darling rivers.
The Bogan River at Nyngan was expected to peak near 3.7 metres on Tuesday morning, with moderate flooding, while moderate flooding was also possible along the lower Bogan River at Mulgawarrina towards the end of the week.
This article was amended on 19 July 2022 because the headline incorrectly referred to an Arctic blast.
