Snow falls in sunshine state

From: News.com.au
By Neale Maynard and wires
November 16, 2006 07:30am

SNOW fell in Queensland and Sydney recorded its lowest temperature for 100 years as an Antarctic blast which lashed the southern states moved north today.
The wild weather, which yesterday dumped snow in Victoria and saw Brisbane hit by wild storms, crossed the Queensland border this morning, dusting parts of the Granite Belt with light snow.
Ewen Macpherson, of Symphony Hill Winery, south of Stanthorpe, said light snow began falling about 10am and had fallen a couple of times since.
Mr Macpherson said the snow wasn't staying on the ground long before it melted.
He said while the winery - which is around 1000m above sea level - got some snow most winters he had not seen snow in November before.
In New South Wales, Sydnesiders were shivering as the mercury dropped to just 8.3C at 5.45am (AEDT).
Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Rob Webb said the temperature had not been that low in November since 1905.
The average minimum low for the month is about 15C.
The weather was expected to get slightly warmer with a top of 15C forecast, although this is well below the average November maximum of 24C.
"This has only happened four or five times in the past to have a maximum that low,'' Mr Webb said.
"State-wide we haven't got the records yet but there are probably a handful of records with some areas breaking 20- or 30-year records for minimum November temperatures.''
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) said a very cold air mass sitting over Victoria and southern NSW was moving north, bringing snow with it.
In a bizarre twist, the same pool of cold air is responsible for the winds driving two bushfires in the Blue Mountains, where temperatures as low as zero were recorded. Strong winds were expected to make conditions difficult for crews until they drop off later in the day.
"It's a bit weird but one of the things that's associated with these strong cold pools is lots of wind,'' Mr Webb said.
"The atmosphere doesn't like really strong gradients between cold and warm so ... the wind is brought and that's what drove the fires.
"It's very rare for us to see wildfire situations with potential snow falling around the peaks around those fires - it's just quite incredible.''
Yesterday the weather brought snow to Melbourne, Canberra and Hobart.
In Queensland, thousands of people from Wide Bay to Wynnum were left to clean up the mess from three separate hailstorms, which saw power cut to more than 30,000 homes, traffic lights blacked out, roads closed and houses and cars damaged.
A Wynnum couple's wedding anniversary plans were ruined when their house was damaged by fire started by lightning, and a church and an antiques shop were unroofed in Brisbane's inner-western suburbs.
The snowfalls come just two weeks before the start of summer. In Melbourne yesterday temperatures plunged to their lowest level in more than a decade -a chilly 8C. And some areas of the state recorded the first November snowfalls in 23 years.
Peter Blake, a senior forecaster at the Bureau of Meteorology, said that while snow was unusual at this time of the year it was not unusual to get these cold bursts in spring.
"Developing snow on the nearby hills becomes rarer the further you go into summer, but it is springtime so the weather is variable," he said.
In Tasmania yesterday, the mercury in Hobart barely broke double figures. Melbourne was treated to strong winds, showers, hail and the occasional burst of sunshine.
Up to 20cm of snow was recorded at Miena in the Great Lakes region of Tasmania and has fallen as low as 350m above sea level in parts of the state.
In Victoria, the alpine region in the northeast received heavy falls while the lower regions of Ballarat, the Dandenongs, Mt Macedon to the northwest of Melbourne and the Otways near Geelong have all reported snow.
Bill Inglis, owner of the Top of the Range cafe, which sits 1000m above sea level, said snow fell for 30 minutes. "I had a busload tour of people to see the Mt Macedon spring gardens so I quipped with the people that at this time of the year the azaleas and camellias are all white," he said. The last time snow was recorded falling in November in these areas was November 17, 1983.