06-07-2025
Snowfall set to surge as cold fronts line up along southeast, with huge dumping of snow on the way after 'abysmal' back-to-back bleak seasons
Heavy school holiday snow for ski resorts this week
It's that magic week in July where every single Australian state and territory is in the thick of school holidays, and for the first time in three seasons, it's looking like a great week ahead for skiers and snowboarders with another fresh dumping of snow on the way.
It's setting this year well in contrast to recent years.
I won't sugarcoat it – the last two seasons were abysmal for both snow cover and fair-weather ski days on the mountains as Australia's fickle snow season fell short of the average.
Some numbers: The best yardstick for Australia's ski seasons are snow base measurements from Snowy Hydro at three separate sites in the Kosciuszko National Park.
These have been kept at Spencer's Creek since 1954 and are a good estimate for natural snow base at the New South Wales Ski Resorts of Perisher and Thredbo.
The average peak natural snow base at this site is 195cm, usually in late August.
Back-to-back bleak seasons with few snow events, rain and rapid spring thaws lead to 2023 and 2024 being the only seasons on record to peak in July.
The seasons ranked 5th and 6th lowest on record.
They are symptoms of a long-term trend where Australia's warmed climate and reduction in winter precipitation over the Australian Alps has led to a loss of peak snow depth of roughly 0.35cm per year since 1954.
That's not to say good seasons don't or won't happen, and this one is off to an encouraging start.
Despite some setbacks (heavy rainfall events, most recently last week for an East Coast Low), abundant snowfall and low temperatures have led to the best natural snow base at this point in the season since 2022 in New South Wales, and in 25 years at Mount Hotham.
As of the end of June, all Victorian resorts were trending above average by a margin of 10cm.
Another huge dumping of snow is on the way this week to further top up the encouraging start to the season.
After some light showers or teasing flurries this Sunday and Monday, a series of snowmaking cold fronts are lining up for the southeast.
Heavy snow should settle in with blizzards from Tuesday, peaking on Thursday with a cold polar blast.
Over half a metre of snow is likely to settle by Friday – even heavier on higher slopes.
This could see the snowpack exceed one metre before the school holidays are out, opening more skiable terrain.
For the latest weather outlooks and climate forecasts be sure to tune into Sky News Weather Channel 601 on Foxtel
