Parts of eastern Australia are set for another round of fierce wintry weather, with warnings of frost, damaging winds, hail and another dumping of snow from Friday.
It comes after icy cold conditions earlier this week plunged temperatures in parts of tropical Australia to near zero, with snow and sleet as far north as Queensland's Granite Belt.
The latest cold front, which passed through WA early on Thursday morning, is due to reach southern parts of South Australia by midday on Friday, triggering rain and strong winds in the afternoon, according to the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM).
It will then reach Victoria, Tasmania and parts of southern New South Wales and the ACT late on Friday night.
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BOM senior meteorologist Sarah Scully said the alpine regions could see another 20-30cm of snowfall, as cold air behind the front drops the snow level down to 900 metres across Tasmania, Victoria and NSW's alpine regions, and 1,000m across the NSW Central Table Lands.
"And there's that risk again that this snow will extend into central parts of the Great Dividing Range of New South Wales too, but not as far north as the most recent cold outbreak," she said.
Early morning frost is also forecast for large parts of Queensland and parts of New South Wales — particularly the south-east, Victoria's east Gippsland region and south-eastern Tasmania on Friday.
Several severe weather warnings have already been issued by the BOM for south-eastern Australia.
It includes a warning of damaging wind gusts for the Mount Lofty Ranges of South Australia from Friday morning, persisting through to Saturday morning for parts of the coastal fringe.
There is also a warning of damaging winds and blizzards across Victoria's north-east alpine regions, and New South Wales alpine region from Friday evening.
Broader cold temperatures, showery weather and strong winds have prompted sheep grazier warnings across large parts of south-eastern Australia.
Meanwhile Western Australia's south coast could see monster waves in the wake of the front, with swell up to 8 metres between Cape Leeuwin and Albany, leading to hazardous surf conditions.
Queensland's tropics turn to ice
The cold outbreak comes after deep southerly winds of a low pressure system saw sleet and snow settle as far north as Queensland's Granite Belt on Tuesday afternoon, as well as the northern ranges of NSW.
Ms Scully said it wasn't common to see snow settle that far north.
"Generally speaking, snow flurries occur maybe once a year, that's where it doesn't settle on the ground," Ms Scully said.
"But actual snow where it's settled on the ground is less common. It's not unprecedented, but it's not common.
"I think last time I had snow in the Granite Belt was back in 2019."
It was followed by a bitterly cold morning in Queensland on Thursday morning, which turned usually tropical areas to ice.
In Palmerville, to the west of Cooktown on the Cape York Peninsula, the temperature dropped to 0.5 degrees Celsius on Thursday morning marking its coldest July temperature in 116 years of records according to BOM, although there are a few gaps in the data.
The tropical town of Kowanyama, on the Gulf Coast, also dropped to 4.9C on Thursday – well below it's average low of 15.7C.
"That's colder than what is was in Melbourne, so it really is quite an extreme cold", BOM forecaster Jonathan How said.
Snow fields get much needed top-up
The wintry outbreak has been welcomed by Australia's ski resorts, where the snow-making machines have been working overtime this season.
Falls Creek Alpine Resort's Bridget Halsall said cold weather had aided their snow-making efforts.
But she said in the last few weeks it had begun to "thin out", so the most recent round of snow was very welcome.
"It's been amazing, there's nothing like a good dump of snowfall, especially in our village it's been ski in, ski out again," she said.
"It definitely lifts the vibe in the community that's for sure."
Many of the major ski resorts are sitting at less than half of their average base snow levels for this time of year as of July 18, according to website On The Snow, which sources its data directly from the ski resorts.
However, Friday night's snow forecast, combined with the 20-30cm that fell earlier this week, is hoped to bring the base snow levels to more normal levels for this time of year.
"I think this could be the storm that maybe gets everything open," Ms Halsall said.
"The Bureau of Meteorology is saying that we could get up to 50 centimetres … it'd be amazing if we got that much."
Posted, updated