Weather News

Hobart hopes for snow on Monday.

Guy Dixon, Saturday August 1, 2015 - 11:43 AEST

A series of strong cold fronts which are moving in quick succession over southeastern parts of Australia threaten to bring low level snow over the coming days to parts of Tasmania.

There are currently a number of warnings issued across the state warning for bitterly cold conditions, including a road weather alert, bush walkers alert and sheep graziers warning for Sunday. These warnings alert against snow falling as low as 400 metres for parts of the Western, Central Plateau, Upper Derwent Valley, South East, North West Coast, Central North, Furneaux Islands, East Coast and North East districts.

As the weekend draws to a close, the airmass looks to chill further on Monday morning, bringing the potential for snow as low as 100-200 metres. The outer suburbs of the state's capital even have the outside chance of receiving a flurry or two on Monday morning.

While the airmass looks sufficiently cool, biggest limiting factor will be a lack of moisture on the lee-side of Mt Wellington.

While we are hoping for a snow day in Hobart, there is a high likelihood that we will miss out due to a phenomenon commonly known as a rain shadow. This works on the principle of air losing moisture as a result of orographic lifting. As a consequence, Hobart could also be 1-2 degrees warmer than on the western side of the range due to the Foehn effect.

As moisture laden westerly breezes move over Mt Wellington on Monday, they are likely to drop the majority of their moisture due to lifting and condensing. As a result, the winds will be relatively dry by the time they move over Hobart, lessening the risk of precipitation.

Regardless of whether it snows or not, the CBD is in for a particularly wintery spell, with average forecast maximum temperatures of only ten degrees over the coming six days. Furthermore, wind chill is likely to make it feel significantly colder at times.

- Weatherzone

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