TL;DR
Two days ago, webcams across Australia's ski resorts were showing bare, grassy slopes. Now they're buried in white. A cold snap has dumped fresh snow from the Snowies to the Victorian high country overnight, with Thredbo copping 24cm, Perisher 20cm and Hotham reporting a storm total of 30cm. Blizzard conditions, sub-zero temps and howling winds have made for a proper winter morning - and snowmaking crews are making the most of it while the cold sticks around. Here's how each resort fared.
After weeks of staring at brown paddocks pretending to be ski runs, Australia's resorts have woken up "buried" - and we're using that word rather generously, but after the season so far, nobody's arguing.
Two days ago, the webcams across the Australian ski fields were showing exactly what they've been showing since the season opened: grass, dirt, and the occasional optimistic patch of man-made snow clinging on for dear life. Then, mercifully, the sky remembered what it was supposed to be doing. A cold change swept through overnight and dumped genuine, honest-to-god snow across both the Snowy Mountains and the Victorian high country, blizzard conditions and all. It's still coming down at several resorts as the day goes on.
New South Wales finally gets its turn
has recorded 24 centimetres in the past 24 hours - modest by the standards of a normal season, but downright thrilling by the standards of the one we've just had. Strong winds gusting to 56 km/h are giving lift operations a hard time, though Friday Flat, the Easy Does It chairlift and both snow runners are expected to open.
