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Antartic snow blanket covers S.E Australia
TWO people died when their car overturned on an ice-covered road yesterday as a blast of freezing air pushed up from Antarctica, producing snow that dusted Parliament House, teased Hobart and blanketed large tracts of Victoria in what might be the lowest-lying snowfalls recorded.The weather bureau called it a "cold outbreak" - an unusual event where a mass of air travels at speed behind a cold front, too quickly for the sun and warmer sea temperatures to heat it. "There's only one way this can happen and that's one of these cold outbreaks from the deep south," senior forecaster Stuart Williams said. "I would have to say it is the most widespread snowfall I have seen in my 21 years at the bureau, and there's a good possibility that it is the first time it has snowed in many of these localities." Two people died near Beechworth, in northeastern Victoria, when their car skidded and flipped on to its roof. "There was a lot of snow and ice on the road," an ambulance spokeswoman said. Elsewhere in Victoria, the Mornington Peninsula, Ballarat, Gippsland, the La Trobe Valley and suburban Melbourne received falls that forced the closure of several roads and schools. In the ACT, the Brindabella Ranges received up to 30cm of snow, and the central and southern tablelands of NSW also received falls. But snow forecast for Melbourne's CBD failed to materialise, and the temperature climbed to 10.4C in the city. It had been predicted that yesterday would be the coldest day of winter. The temperature was well above Melbourne's coldest recorded day, in 1872, when the thermometer dipped to 6.7C. The last time it snowed in Melbourne's suburbs was in June 1986, while the last major Melbourne snowfall was in 1951. At Mirboo North primary school in West Gippsland, about 120 students who travelled to school by bus faced the prospect of spending the night at school as parents tried to make their way along snow-blanketed roads to collect their children. But the school's vice-principal Garry Adams said by late yesterday afternoon, all the children had either returned home or made arrangements to be picked up by friends or relatives. It was the first time most of the Mirboo North schoolchildren had seen snow. "They were so excited when they first got to school," Mr Adams said. "All the faces were at the window, and looking at it with astonishment in their eyes." Canberra received snowshowers, but the snow failed to settle on the ground. Snow fell at sea level in Hobart, and snow and ice forced the closure of at least two roads in Tasmania. Police said a school bus slid off the road near Strahan, in the northwest, but no injuries were reported. Temperatures are expected to be cold again today in Victoria, but a repeat of yesterday's snowfalls is not forecast. Posted by: Oztralian [AKA] God Save The World 2005-08-10 |
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