A Christmas in July wish came true for winter lovers across southeast Australia on Sunday morning as snow flurries were seen down to elevations of nearly 400m.  

This comes as a distinctly cold airmass makes its way across the southeast, associated with a persistent southerly airstream around a low pressure system in the Tasman Sea. 

As you can see from the loop, low cloud and moist winds were streaming in from the southwest throughout Sunday morning. This allowed the already frigid airmass to interact with the topography and drop snow to lower areas of the ACT, eastern elevated Vic and the Central Tablelands of NSW.  

Image: Snow flurries at 470m elevation near Merrijig, Victoria on The Valley Floor below Mount Buller on Sunday morning. Credit: Nic on ski.com.au forum. 

There was a similar story in eastern parts of the ACT, which saw snowfalls as low as 800m. Royalla, right on the border with NSW, was blanketed in a white sheet. From Canberra Daily (@canberra_daily) on X:

Beautiful scenes with snow falling around Royalla this morning ?? ?? pic.twitter.com/QhUMRuYz5m

— Canberra Daily (@canberra_daily) July 27, 2024

Elsewhere in NSW, areas around Lithgow and Hampton received some brief snowfalls after 7am.  

City dwellers may be under clear skies, but gusty westerly wind chill has made it feel extremely cold throughout the morning, up to 10 degrees cooler than actual. Just before 10am, Sydney was feeling colder than freezing as wind gusts reached the gale force Beaufort Scale range.

As cold as it may be, Canberrans are unlikely to see snow tonight at the 6:15pm NRL match tonight. But it'll definitely be a chilly one, feeling below freezing for the duration of the match as westerly winds ease.  

For updates on snow levels and cold weather, be sure to check out our snow forecasts on our website. Merry Christmas in July!