Snow has fallen across alpine regions in New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania as an unseasonal cold blast moved through Australia’s south-east on Saturday, November 8, 2026.
The Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) reported that Thredbo, Perisher, Mount Hotham, and Kunanyi/Mount Wellington all recorded snowfall during the event. The phenomenon was described by BoM as a result of a deep layer of cold air moving northward from Antarctica, combined with strong south-westerly winds that lowered apparent temperatures—known as 'feels like' conditions.
Temperature Conditions
At midday across key cities, temperatures felt cooler than forecast maximums:
- Adelaide reached 17.5°C but felt like 12.3°C;
- Canberra had a high of 12.9°C and felt like 5.3°C.
Brisbane, Perth, and Darwin remained significantly warmer, with temperatures in the 20s to 30s Celsius.
Social Media Reactions
Madeleine McVie, retail manager at Thredbo, posted on Instagram that 'it’s springtime in Australia, in November, and it’s snowing,' describing the event as fully snowy rather than light or occasional.
She later shared footage of chairlift operations being conducted through the park amid ongoing snowfall.
In Tasmania, Kingston Crows cricket club posted an image showing the Kingston Beach Oval coated in hailstones during a morning session on Saturday.
Climatic Context
The BoM noted this cold snap was not entirely unprecedented—some locations recorded similar snowfalls in November 2022. However, such events are rare for springtime conditions in Australia's southern regions.
Climate experts have warned that extreme weather patterns—including intensified cold snaps and heatwaves—are becoming more frequent due to climate change driven by fossil fuel pollution. The current El Niño event is described as 'supercharged,' with potential impacts extending across global climates.
The UN and other bodies have highlighted how the strengthened El Niño may amplify existing trends of hotter, drier summers in the Southern Hemisphere, increasing wildfire risks and droughts in Australia and parts of Africa.