The snow depth in Australia averages around 40 inches (100cm) per year. Snowfall in Australia occurs mainly in the mountainous regions of the states of Victoria, Tasmania and New South Wales.
Greatest Snow Depth on Record: 451 Inches
Tamarack, California, also holds the U.S. record for the greatest snow depth ever measured. A maximum snow depth of 451 inches, or 37.5 feet, was recorded there on March 11, 1911, according to Burt.
Perisher Historical Snowfall
Perisher gets an average annual snowfall of 72" of snow per year and on average has 17 annual snowfall days. The average snow depth at Perisher is 33".
Elevation of the snowfields in Australia varies with latitude; however, viable winter snows are generally found above 1500 m: Thredbo, near Mount Kosciuszko, has Australia's highest lifted point at 2037 m and its base elevation is 1365 m.
There are plenty of places to enjoy snow in Australia – some of the major destinations include the peaks of the Australian Alps like Perisher, Thredbo, Charlotte Pass, Mt Hotham, Falls Creek, Mt Buller, Selwyn, and Mt Baw Baw.
Is Snow Common in Australia? Snow is not a common occurrence across all of Australia during the winter months. However, due to its large size, some parts of the country—especially those in higher elevations—experience snowfall from time to time.
Liawenee (/laɪ.
It seems while all storms are memorable, depending especially on whether you were there or not, the fact this one had such a catchy nickname helped it capture the minds of Australia over. The first iteration, the original Blizzard of Oz dropped over 1 metre of snow across resorts.
Across the mountainous tops of the Great Dividing Range, winter brings heavy snowfalls. This snowfall is so heavy that Australian Alps, located near the capital city of Canberra, receives more snow than the Swiss Alps in the winter months!
NOAA's National Weather Service - Glossary. Heavy Snow This generally means... snowfall accumulating to 4" or more in depth in 12 hours or less; or. snowfall accumulating to 6" or more in depth in 24 hours or less.
A rule of thumb is that 10 inches of snow equals about 1 inch of water, but this number can vary greatly—as you can investigate yourself the next time it snows.
Snow falls at sea level poleward of latitude 35° N and 35° S, though on the west coast of continents it generally falls only at higher latitudes. Close to the equator, snowfall occurs exclusively in mountain regions—at elevations of about 4,900 metres (16,000 feet) or higher.
The reigning world record holder is still on Mt. Ibuki in the Shiga Prefecture in Japan. On Feb. 14th, 1927, a measurement of just over 465 inches (38.75ft) was recorded.
A maximum snow depth of 451 inches, or 37.5 feet, was recorded on March 11, 1911. According to Christopher Burt of wunderground.com, the site is at an elevation of 7,000 feet near where the Bear Valley Ski Resort is now.
The 1972 Iran blizzard, which caused 4,000 reported deaths, was the deadliest blizzard in recorded history. Dropping as much as 26 feet (7.9 m) of snow, it completely covered 200 villages. After a snowfall lasting nearly a week, an area the size of Wisconsin was entirely buried in snow.
Southern Hemisphere
In 2006, a snowstorm hit the Snowy Mountains in New South Wales and Victoria, arriving on Christmas morning and bringing nearly 12 in (30 cm) of snow in higher areas.
The scarcity of snow in most of Australia's major cities comes down to many things: their location at sea level, their latitude and the lack of land mass.
Cyclone Mahina was the deadliest cyclone in recorded Australian history, and also likely the most intense tropical cyclone ever recorded in the Southern Hemisphere. Mahina struck Bathurst Bay, Cape York Peninsula, Queensland, on 4 March 1899, and its winds and enormous storm surge combined to kill more than 300 people.
Tasmania is Australia's coldest state overall because it is closer to the polar zone compared to the other Australian states and territories, and experiences more frequent bursts of cold Antarctic air. The coldest nights occur when the conditions are clear and calm, especially if there is snow cover.
Oodnadatta, South Australia
Of course we Aussies don't have to travel far to feel the heat, especially during the Australian summer months. The record for the highest official temperature ever recorded in Australia belongs to the remote outback town of Oodnadatta in South Australia.
Welcome to winter in Yakutsk, the coldest city in the world. Residents of this notoriously frosty city, the capital of Russia's Sakha Republic in eastern Siberia, regularly deal with temperatures as low as minus 40 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter.
Snow and glaciers
Snow is an almost annual occurrence on some of the mountains of South Africa, including those of the Cedarberg and around Ceres in the South-Western Cape, and on the Drakensberg in Natal and Lesotho.
Snow is extremely rare in Sydney, with significant snowfall being last reported in the Sydney area on 28 June 1836.
Melbourne has an extremely low chance of it snowing too.
So Melbourne won't exactly be your next winter wonderland retreat, as nice of an idea as that would be. There are other places in Victoria that experience snowfall though, so if you are staying in Melbourne, you aren't too far away from doing a snow angel.