Snow will fall in the Australian ski resorts this weekend, just in time for the Victorian school holidays.

This is excellent timing as Victoria does not have as much snow on the ground as the main two NSW resorts of Perisher and Thredbo right now, primarily due to the higher elevations of the NSW resorts, but also because they caught a little snow out of the east in a recent system which didn't reach Victoria.

So how much snow will fall?

The gurus on our Weatherzone snow page predict that as much as 30 cm could fall at higher elevations, with totals more likely to peak in the 10 to 20 cm range across the high country of NSW and Victoria. Tasmania will also see snow in this system.

The heaviest falls will be on Saturday as a cold front approaches the alpine region. Some r**n may fall at first (rain is a four-letter word in the Aussie snowfields in winter) on Saturday but it will gradually turn to snow as down to 1400 metres as we get through Saturday.

On Sunday, the snow level drops to 1000 metres which is well below resort level.

So even though the moisture starts to disappear from this system around late Sunday, any snow that does fall from Sunday morning onwards with be light, fluffy and powdery rather than the wet “Aussie cement” that fell at higher elevations midweek in a system that was only just cold enough for snow.

Whipping around the resorts, Perisher will lead the way with 23 of its 45 lifts spinning this weekend, with only the Guthega section of the resort yet to open.

Thredbo should have nine of its 15 lifts running, although several of those are for access only, so even though more than half the lifts are open, considerably less than half the resort’s terrain is skiable.

As for the other two NSW resorts, Charlotte Pass will open in a week for the NSW school holidays, while Selwyn Snow Resort will open this weekend for tobogganing and beginner skiing on a limited cover of machine-made snow.

Image: Scene of natural snow away from snowmaking areas on Thredbo's Cruiser Chairlift on Friday, June 28. Source: Phil Richmond.

In Victoria, there is much less terrain open for skiing and snowboarding in New South Wales but conditions should improve dramatically after the weekend snowfalls.

A cold mostly fine week lies ahead which will be ideal for snowmaking, so by this time next week, the Aussie snow season will be in much better shape, even if we can’t say it will be in full swing yet.

Click the links for the Victorian resorts of Falls Creek, Mt Hotham, Mt Buller and Mount Baw Baw for the latest info on lift openings and weather conditions, and as ever, keep checking our snow page for the latest forecasts, live snow cams and more.