The Snow Arrived. Mt Buller Stole the Show. Opening Weekend Is On.
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Melbourne-based skier and snowboarder with 50+ resorts across 5 continents. Specialises in Australian resorts and international resort comparisons.
The snow we called earlier this week has arrived - and Mt Buller didn't read the script.
Earlier this week we published our 10-day outlook for the Australian Alps ahead of Kings Birthday Opening Weekend. The headline numbers pointed to NSW leading the charge, with Perisher and Thredbo carrying the bulk of the natural snowfall. Victorian resorts were framed as a snowmaking story. Mt Buller was sitting at 1.3cm in the 10-day forecast totals.
Mt Buller is now reporting 25cm of fresh snow and counting.
The Victorian resorts have flipped the narrative entirely. While NSW has delivered as expected, it is Mt Buller that has posted the biggest number of the event - and with Falls Creek and Hotham both sitting on 15cm, the Victorian fields are heading into Opening Weekend in considerably better shape than the models suggested five days ago.
Where every resort stands right now
Mt Buller leads with 25cm of fresh snow on the ground. Falls Creek is reporting 15cm and still falling as of their most recent social update. Hotham is at 15cm, Thredbo recorded 13cm overnight with snowguns and mountain operations running alongside natural snowfall, and Perisher has seen temperatures drop to -3°C with snowmaking running at full capacity.
Thredbo has confirmed Friday Flat is on for Opening Weekend and has flagged further lift and terrain updates to come. Falls Creek's snowmaking crews have been combining natural snowfall with machine-made snow around the clock. Thredbo's village was recording -4.9°C with snow falling at resort level - a temperature that puts snowmaking firmly in its most efficient window.
The SnowStash forecast is showing more to come: 12.7cm forecast for Hotham in the next 24 hours, Falls Creek at 9.8cm, and Selwyn Resort at 9cm. The event is not finished yet.
Mt Buller social media post about the recent snowfall.
Why Mt Buller's number matters
A 25cm reading at Mt Buller is not something you pencil in for early June. The resort sits at lower elevation than the NSW snowfields and is more exposed to warm air masses tracking up from the north - which is exactly why the seasonal forecasts flagged it as snowmaking-dependent rather than a natural snowfall story.
What this week's event has done for Mt Buller - and for Falls Creek and Hotham - is the same thing a strong early dump does for any resort at elevation: it cools the ground. Early-season snow falling on warm earth fights a losing battle from the base up. The ground retains heat stored over summer, and snow sitting directly on it runs warmer at its base than at the surface - meaning it melts from below until the earth beneath finally cools down. A 25cm natural dump accelerates that process considerably, and every centimetre of machine-made snow laid on top of frozen ground has a far better chance of holding.
For Mt Buller's snowmaking crew, this is the best possible setup heading into Opening Weekend.
Hotham social media post about the recent snowfall.
Snowmaking has not let up across the board
Mt Buller operates five all-weather snowmaking units - believed to be the largest fleet of its kind at any resort globally - and those systems have been running alongside conventional snowguns all week. Snowmaking efficiency peaks when wet-bulb temperature is well below freezing, and the overnight conditions across the Victorian Alps this week have kept crews firmly in that window. At -4.9°C in Thredbo village and -3°C at Perisher, the guns have been working at close to optimal conditions.
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting additional snow pulses through the week, with snow levels expected to drop to around 1,300 metres by Wednesday and further showers tracking through Thursday and into Friday morning - the day before lifts spin for the first time in 2026.
Opening Weekend is Saturday
Mt Buller, Hotham, Falls Creek, Perisher, and Thredbo are all targeting Saturday 6 June. Perisher's PEAK Festival runs across the full long weekend from Friday 5 to Monday 8 June. Thredbo has confirmed Friday Flat opens Saturday with further terrain announcements still to come. We will cover lift and terrain confirmations as they land from each resort.
The 2026 Australian ski season looked like a slow starter not long ago. Right now it doesn't feel that way at all.