BATTEN down the hatches this weekend as a polar blast of cold air and heavy snow will further descend on the Snowy Mountains.
Blizzard conditions will prevail and snow will fall to about 500m across the weekend.
Thredbo have already recorded 38cm so far during the storm that started on Tuesday, Perisher receiving 46cm snow in the past 7 days.
Snowfall will ramp up a notch from Friday afternoon, as the heaviest of snow starts to arrive. The mountains can expect another 50cm of snow before Monday which will make for great conditions in the coming weeks. With a natural snow base of 127cm on Thursday, we can expect this to balloon to well over 150cm later next week.
Motorists are advised not be on the roads in the alpine areas unless they have to, especially inexperienced drivers, as roads will be snowy and icy.
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a warning today for increased wind, snow and cold temperatures across the weekend.
Here are their main headlines.
• There are windy and cold conditions across NSW / ACT due to a series of vigorous cold fronts
• From Sat morning the higher parts of the Illawarrra and Southern and Central Tablelands could have damaging winds, strong enough to bring down trees or power lines
• Those winds could average 60-70km/hr with gusts of 90km/hr
• Likely to have Severe Weather Warnings for winds on both days of the weekend. A warning has already been issued
• The coldest weather will be over the weekend and could see daytime temperatures drop more than 4-8 degrees below average
• Wind chill will make conditions feel colder and hypothermia is a risk if people aren't prepared for the conditions
• Snow and ice on roads could also be an issue
• Some ski resorts have received close to half a metre of snow in the past two days and could have a further half a metre of snow by Monday
• Blizzards and avalanches remain a risk through the Alpine region and driving conditions could be hazardous
For enthusiastic snow revelers who will be out braving the weather and snow, expect temperatures to feel like -15 degrees or more with the wind chill and blizzard conditions.
