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Sensational spring snow

Ben Domensino, Friday September 16, 2016 - 16:20 AEST

Australia's ski season has bounced back in the last two days with around half a metre of fresh snow hitting some slopes.

The fresh powder has been an impressive late-season fall and follows a tough few weeks for Australia's ski resorts. The Alps underwent a thaw from late August, with rising temperatures and rain eroding the snow base and leaving some slopes without any cover at all. The snow depth at Spencers Creek dropped from 157.5cm in late August to 115cm earlier this week.

Things took a big turn in the middle of this week, when it suddenly got cold and snowed. A pool of cold air wrapping around a low pressure system passed over Australia's Alps on Wednesday, turning rain into snow. It kept snowing for two days, bringing average falls of around 30-40cm to the mountains.

Perisher recorded 60mm of precipitation with the temperature near or below freezing between Wednesday afternoon and this morning. As a rough guide, 1mm equates to 1cm of snow in these conditions.

A look at today's ski cameras also shows a blanket of white where there was grass only two days ago. Unlike the start of this week, the cameras also show more people, as skiers and boarders enjoy one of the better falls this seasons and probably one of the last good ones for 2016.

- Weatherzone

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