Snow showers have fallen intermittently throughout Thursday afternoon on higher parts of the NSW Central Tablelands, just west of Sydney, while Sydney itself has shivered through its second-coldest day of 2024.

• Sydney’s coldest day of 2024 to date was June 22, when the mercury topped out at just 12.1°C.
• This Thursday, September 26, Sydney’s temperature has remained below 13°C in daylight hours since 9 am (the official maximum won't be registered until 9 am Friday morning).

Thursday's chill has been a rude shock for Sydneysiders. On Wednesday, the mercury reached 26.9°C and would likely have exceeded 30°C if the sun had popped out for any length of time.

The cold front that swept across southeastern Australia overnight changed all that.

Snowing on the Oberon Plateau intermittently today. Best snow showers today will be above 1200M. It could snow off and on for the next 12 to 24 hours. Video courtesy of Jenolan Cabins. pic.twitter.com/zUPSRDi4Sf

— Blackheath Weather - Blue Mountains NSW. Australia (@BlackheathWx) September 26, 2024

Conditions cleared quickly after the passage of the front in Victoria, southern NSW, and most locations west of the Great Dividing Range.

But in parts of coastal NSW and the nearby ranges, the combination of unseasonably cold air and southeasterly winds funnelling moisture onshore has bitten hard.

Image: Not the heaviest fall, but it's still spring snow two hours from Sydney. Source: Barry Richard, Jenolan Cabins.

Sydney had received 25.2 mm of rain by 5 pm, on top of 11.6 mm up to 9 am. There had previously been only one day of rain in September, and that only delivered 2mm.

Barry Richard from popular getaway spot Jenolan Cabins, about two hours west of Sydney, told Weatherzone that there was a centimetre or two of snow on the ground, with snow continuing to fall on and off late on Thursday afternoon.

"We've had two other falls this year which is not as much as we normally get," Richard said. "Normally we see at least four or five falls throughout the winter."

The cabins are located at an elevation just over 1300 metres which is almost as high as the bottom of the ski lifts at several Australian ski resorts.

Unfortunately, business has seen a downturn in recent times due to the closure of popular tourist spot Jenolan Caves due to road repairs. But the road to the cabins via Oberon is still well and truly open.

Image: Snow also fell briefly above about 1000m in the Monaro district of southern NSW, east of the Snowy Mountains. Source: Phil Richmond. 

Meanwhile the heaviest rain will track towards northern NSW overnight, with powerful winds and huge waves lashing the coast. Please check our warnings page for the latest updates.