Early taste of winter for SE Australia
Snow fell in Tasmania, while elevated parts of the southeastern mainland experienced subzero temperatures as a pair of cold fronts crossed Tasmania over the weekend.
The fronts pushed only light rainfall over southern Vic and far southeastern SA, however at least one western Tasmanian weather station saw good falls of 30mm or more (which fell as snow up high) on both Saturday and Sunday.
This was the Sunday morning scene at Ben Lomond, Tasmania’s only commercial skifield about an hour out of Launceston.
Image: It was only a light dusting for the ski resort in Tasmnania’s northeast, but enough to get ski enthusiasts hyped-up about the coming season. Source: Tasmanian Rover Ski Club.
While the mainland saw minimal rainfall from the weekend's cold fronts, enough chilly air swept northwards to generate the coldest temperatures of the year in numerous locations.
- Melbourne had its coldest night to date for 2025, with a low of 7.4°C on Sunday morning.
- Canberra saw its first frosty morning of 2025, with a low of –0.1°C on Sunday morning.
- Falls Creek in the Victorian Alps dropped to –0.4°C on Sunday morning, while Mt Hotham dipped to –0.6°C.
- In Tasmania, the mercury fell below zero at several locations, including a low of –2.7°C at kunanyi/Mt Wellington above Hobart on Saturday morning, with snow also reported at that site.
Interestingly, Perisher Valley in the NSW Snowy Mountains – which often sees Australia’s lowest temperatures in these sort of systems – remained just above zero due to consistent westerly winds, which prevented cold air pooling in the valley overnight.
Those westerly winds were particularly strong in southern Tasmania, with a gust of 139 km/h recorded at the Maatsuyker Island lighthouse.
Image: Satellite image on the morning of Monday, April 7, showing the speckled cloudmass typically associated with cold fronts over Tasmania and the southern Tasman Sea.
After a relatively cool day this Monday and Tuesday, a warming trend will develop during the week across Tasmania and the southeast mainland.