It was an unusually cold and wet August over much of eastern Australia, the coldest and wettest in Sydney for 16 years. And to think they were talking up El Nino conditions earlier in the year! This is the opposite of what you would expect and is more like La Nina really.

Anyway the cold and wet August has given way to a cold start to spring with a deep Tasman low throwing cold Antarctic air northwards over eastern Australia. Snow reported from the Victoria border right up to Queensland-

 

Some very nice photos here- http://www.northerndailyleader.com.au/story/2533001/yes-it-snowed-in-spring-photos/?cs=157#slide=1

 

They seemed suprised about the spring snow, but I have seen snow fall in the Blue Mountains in early November. 

I am looking forward to spring starting properly now mind.

Thanks for that, interesting stuff, it appears the cooler then average temperatures have extended up through the tropics from what I've seen with global temperatures, Western Australia in contrast appears to have been much warmer than normal (although I may be wrong).

As you say, this is more indicative of La Nina conditions rather then El Nino, which is strange because the distribution of tropical cyclones suggest the atmosphere is in an El Nino like state but observations elsewhere are not behaving in the same way.

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Our vet is Australian and likes to regail with tales of struggling to reach clients in conditions like that (when it snows here).
Many of the farms there keep very large herds and make minimal fodder compared to here where 6 month feeding period is the norm - things can soon get grim in long spels of cold and wet.

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Not an Aussie vet out of Guisborough is he? Might know him if it is.

Indeed that is the one, but he lives next door to me now.

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ahhh yes, I know the fella  Looked after my cocker spaniel when I had him, good guy 

 

Gale force SE winds and a high wind chill in Sydney today. We don't have central heating so much over here... has been very brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr 

 

At what altitude would those photos have been taken?

During a normal winter how high do you need to be at Sydney's latitude to get snow?

Always love reading about snow in Oz, I have relatives in Adelaide but it never snows there.

Andy

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There's a mentiom of Sheba Dams which is about 1000metres so high but not 'Alpine' heights
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hanging_Rock,_New_South_Wales

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I would say between 850 - 1000 meters. Katoomba at the town at the top of the Blue Mountains is around 1000 meters (not the highest point on the mountains though)

Snow has fallen in the suburbs of Sydney. The Hornsby plateau to the NW of the centre of Sydney rises to around 750m and is a combination of suburbs and bush reserve. I have seen flakes of snow coming down in this area. There are photos of really cold events in the early part of the 20th century of snow on the ground in suburbs around the plateau. My house is in this area and is at around 650 meters high, we can see the city in the distance which is great for firework watching. We get good frosts and snow isn't impossible. We can grow North Euro flowers and veg here that they cannot do in many areas.

Snow is not uncommon at sea level in Victoria and Tasmania.

And it can snow very close to Adelaide, Mt Lofty just outside Adelaide gets a covering most winters.

Thanks for that really interesting and I small surprised how low snow can fall in Oz, so it's not all BBQs and heat waves then!

1000 meters isn't very high really so it's possible to live in Oz and still expect to see snow most winters, hmmm, that's tempting.

I have heard the Capital Canbera gets snow sometimes although I am not sure what altitude it is at.

Meanwhile I await my first morning with lying snow since March 2013 and I live at the same latitude as Canada!

Andy

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