There might be some people from outside of Australia wondering if they read the heading right; snow and Australia in the same sentence? People might be surprised to know that some locations in Australia can, and often do, reach a greater maximum snow depth than what most of Finland does.
An intense low pressure system currently moving across Australia's south-east is causing widespread damage throughout the region. Strong winds have been affecting areas from southern South Australia through Victoria to the southern half of New South Wales.
The system hit South Australia already late on Sunday. Yesterday morning Adelaide Airport recorded a maximum gust of 93km/h, the strongest since September 30 last year. Today the strong winds moved east and it was Melbourne and Sydney's turn.
Sydney Airport today saw a maximum recorded wind gust of 81km/h. This is the strongest gust so far this year and the strongest since December 29, almost 6 months ago. Bellambi, just north of Wollongong, saw a gust of 113km/h at 7:26pm, the strongest in more than a year.
Melbourne saw strong winds also. A gust of 104km/h was recorded at Melbourne Airport just before 1pm. The station on South Channel Island in the far south of Port Phillip recorded the strongest gust of the region at 122km/h.
Storm surges also caused minor flooding in areas along the Yarra River in Melbourne's CBD.
In addition to the gale force winds, the system has dumped plenty of snow in the Snowy Mountains, the region between Canberra and Melbourne. Almost blizzard-like conditions have seen previously bare ground covered in up to 50cm of snow at higher altitudes. After the unusually warm autumn weather, the snow is a welcome sight for ski resorts like Thredbo and Perisher. More snow is also predicted to fall in the coming days.
Several images and more information about this weather event can be found in this ABC news article.
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