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Half a metre of snow likely at Australia’s ski resorts

Source Weatherzone Fri 06 Jun 2025

The 2025 King’s Birthday Long Weekend opening promises to be the snowiest start to an Australian snow season in years, with the potential for up to 70cm of snow to accumulate at the higher resorts by Tuesday evening, with at least 15 to 30cm at the lower resorts. While the mainland ski resorts will kick off operations with skiing and snowboarding available on limited runs with a base of snowmaking snow, more lifts and terrain could open by early next week due to heavy snowfalls that should begin early on Saturday. Image: The Front Valley area at Perisher ready to go ahead of the long weekend. Source: Perisher. A few spots of natural snow can be seen on the higher peaks, with plenty more to come over the weekend. As things stand this Friday afternoon, it’s relatively calm and dry across the mountains with high cloud overhead. But a strong cold front in the Great Australian Bight will move in overnight and kick off the big blizzard. Image: Synoptic chart for the Australian region on the morning of Friday, June 6, 2025, showing the approaching cold front. By Sunday morning, a complex low pressure system centred over southeastern Victoria will continue to feed moisture into a pool of frigid polar air over the alpine region, generating ongoing snowfalls. Image: Predicted synoptic chart for the Australian region on the morning of Sunday, June 8, 2025. The coldest air will push over the high country on Sunday and Monday, generating snowfalls to low levels in locations well below the lowest point of the ski resorts. The influx of the coldest air will mean that snow showers are possible as low as: 600m in Victoria and far southern NSW on Sunday and Monday 800 metres on Sunday and Monday on the Central and Southern Tablelands of NSW as well as the ACT 1200m on Monday on the NSW Northern Tablelands 1000m on Tasmania’s Central Plateau, and 1200m in the state’s east on high spots like kunanyi/Mt Wellington above Hobart and the Ben Lomond ski resort near Launceston For those attending the NRL game between the Canberra Raiders and South Sydney Rabbitohs on Sunday afternoon, it’s worth noting that Canberra Stadium sits at 620 metres above sea level. With a snow level around 800m in the ACT, it’s unlikely that snow will coat the field at the game as it famously did in the year 2000 during a match between the Raiders and Wests Tigers. However a few flakes are not beyond the realms of possibility. READ MORE: The day Canberra Stadium turned white This will be a dangerous weekend on the roads, especially in the vicinity of the ski resorts, where people always turn up in big numbers on the long weekend to ski or party (or both). Please drive safely and remember to check the latest road conditions in NSW and Victoria from Saturday morning onwards. Image: Snow and Ski Forecast Page on Weatherzone. And don’t forget to bookmark the Weatherzone snow page for the duration of the 2025 ski season for the latest forecasts, live cams, and much more. - Weatherzone © Weatherzone 2025