Yahoo Finance Aussie town wakes up to snow on second day of summer
It might be the first days of summer but that hasn’t stopped snow settling in northern Tasmania.
While many regions of Australia have been battling heatwaves and some areas of NSW had a weekend where temperatures eclipsed 40 degrees, Tasmania experienced settled snow on Wednesday morning.
It affected areas near Great Lake in Tasmania’s central north.
Declan Lee, who works at Great Lake General Store in Miena – southwest of the lake, told Yahoo News Australia he believed about 5cm of snow settled.
“Seeing it settle like this is a bit of a non-occurrence,” Mr Lee said.
“It’s been a while since I can remember it happening in December.
“One bloke who lives in the area came in this morning and said it was strange to see it settled.”
He added at the time of speaking to Yahoo News Australia, which was about 10.15am (AEDT), it was only 2 degrees.
Great Lake General Store shared photos of the settled snow on Facebook much to the delight and shock of viewers at the “beyond beautiful” scenes.
“This looks more appealing than these 46C days,” one woman wrote.
Another woman wrote she was packing her jumpers.
“I think I’ll move to Tasmania,” a third wrote.
A ‘winter-like’ system hits Tasmania
Weatherzone meteorologist Esteban Abellan told Yahoo News Australia the chilly temperatures which confronted the area, including Launceston, on Wednesday morning was caused by a front which crossed the region on Tuesday.
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He said nearby Liawenee, which is on the west side of Great Lake, dropped to 0.2 at 6am.
“Launceston reached 9 this morning which is well below average,” Mr Abellan said.
“It’s not a common front and more of a winter-like system.”
He added areas in Tasmania’s north will warm over the coming days but only “modestly”.
Mr Abellan said another similar front is due to pass over the weekend bringing temperature drops on Sunday and Monday.
According to the Bureau of Meteorology, Liawenee could have snow on Monday and Tuesday next week with the temperature plummeting to -1.
Queensland endures heatwaves with more to come
Some parts of south and west Queensland have endured sweltering conditions over the past few days.
Birdsville had three consecutive days of 46 degrees across Friday, Saturday and Sunday, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.
Weatherzone meteorologist Brett Dutschke told Yahoo News Australia a cold change would offer some reprieve on Thursday.
But it will do little to ease the heat at locations in Queensland’s west.
Longreach and Winton in the state’s west could still both reach 40 on Thursday.
“It should re-heat from Friday to Monday,” he said.
“A replay from the first round of heat.”
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