Topic: December 2006 Snow

[Jeff Brislane]

Hi Guys,

Got home from christmas lunch with family and while my wifes at work I thought I'd check out the observations to see if there has been snowfalls over the alps as forcast and i'm not dissapointed. I'll be hiking the main range in three days so I might see some residual snow on the side of kosciuosko.

It almost snowed at Cooma today! Or i could have at least sleeted. Check out the sudden cold dip in temperature to 2.7 under a shower around 1:30pm. A white christmas?

Mon 25/12 18:00 S  20 25 7.4 2.1 69 2.7 3.5(L) 2.2 1012.1
Mon 25/12 17:20 SSW 26 32 7.9 1.3 63 2.7 5.7(Mod) 2.2 1011.3
Mon 25/12 17:17 WSW 18 31 10.5 -1.8 42 7.0 9.0(Mod) 2.2 1011.6
Mon 25/12 17:00 WSW 15 20 11.8 -2.7 36 9.1 10.2(Mod) 2.2 1011.1
Mon 25/12 16:00 W  14 21 9.6 3.4 65 6.3 3.3(L) 2.2 1011.6
Mon 25/12 15:00 SW  16 25 8.0 5.3 83 4.0 1.9(L) 2.2 1012.5
Mon 25/12 14:00 SW  12 16 5.6 3.1 84 1.6 1.4(L) 1.8 1012.7
Mon 25/12 13:34 SSW 15 21 2.7 0.1 83 -2.7 1.5(L) 1.2 1012.4
Mon 25/12 13:12 SSW 16 33 7.5 3.2 74 3.3 2.5(L) 0.6 1011.2
Mon 25/12 13:00 W  9 14 7.2 2.9 74 4.2 1.8(L) 0.6 1011.6
Mon 25/12 12:00 SSW 9 12 5.2 4.2 93 1.7 0.9(L) 0.6 1011.9
Mon 25/12 11:00 SSW 20 25 4.9 1.3 77 -0.6 2.4(L) 0.0 1011.5

[nzstorm]

Todays Melbourne sounding looks good for snow to about 1000m, maybe a bit lower. Quite typical of El Nino I think.

Edited - A discussion on El Nino and snow has been moved to
http://www.australiasevereweather.com/forum/index.php?topic=255.0

[Jeff Brislane]

Can anyone comment on the nature/frequency of december snow events in this country or New Zealand for that matter?

[FutureSnow]

When 1mm = 1cm of snow usually in Australia when the temperature is below zero, then Mt Baw Baw has probably smashed any mid-summer snowfall record in Australia. Up to 29cm landed until 9am on Christmas Day followed by a further 42cm until 9am on Boxing Day. But the 'net is absent of hard evidence confirming this. Some early media reports hinted at what might come:
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,20972702-2,00.html
The obs are still showing and archive of this extraordinary event:
http://www.bom.gov.au/products/IDV60801/IDV60801.95901.shtml
Maybe no one was able to access the mountain!

[Jeff Brislane]

It looks like Mt Baw Baw only had about 5 to 10cm's of snow. Isn't it a case that 1mm doesn't always equate to 1cm of snow dues to wetter or drier snow?

I was on the main range in N.S.W. last thursday and there wasn't a bit of snow left.