Snowy Mountains Highway, NSW. Source: MDRX, Wikimedia Commons
Parts of Australia’s Southeast have been hit by rain, snow, strong winds, and wild surf after recording the coldest May temperatures in years.
Areas experiencing this extreme weather include parts of Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales, and Queensland.
There have been reports of 15cm of snow in Falls Creek and Hotham, and multiple temperature records have been broken in the past 24 hours.
Strahan Aerodrome in Tasmania recorded a temperature of -0.6 degrees last night, the coldest May night in 22 years.
Canberra reported its lowest maximum temperature in 23 years yesterday, recording 7.8 degrees at lunchtime.
Sub-alpine regions, including Brown Mountain, Nimmitabel, and Perisher Valley, saw their first snowfall for 2023.
While winds blew away some of the snow overnight, plenty remained, and snow and ice warnings were issued for motorists travelling on the Snowy Mountains and Monaro highways.
Temperatures are expected to get even lower tomorrow, with parts of Queensland warned that tomorrow morning will be its coldest since August.
Harry Clark, senior meteorologist at the Bureau of Meteorology, said, “May is a transition month, while we do get cold towards the end of the month. What is notable, is that this is the first cold of the season and some early season temperatures (in Queensland) might have been broken.”
“Over the next 24 hours, we will see the cold spread to parts of central and north Queensland, in the south, it’s going to get even colder.”
