It's summer ... or so we thought, until this morning when the ski resorts woke up to scenes so snowy they could easily be described as mid-winter.
And that's not all, folks. More snow is forecast for the ski resorts south of Canberra. The Bureau of Meteorology says there's a "high" chance of it on Friday in both Perisher and Thredbo.
Cameras at both resorts showed expanses of white on Friday morning.
Temperatures will remain low over the weekend there before warming up next week.
A maximum of two degrees was forecast for Friday at Thredbo, rising to five on Saturday.
The low temperatures stem from an unseasonal cold snap pushing across southern Australia.
It's part of the pattern across south-eastern Australia.
The cold snap, coming straight from the Antarctic, will drop Saturday's temperatures below 10 degrees around Mount Wellington in Tasmania.
But Hobart will get up to 20 degrees through the day.
IN OTHER NEWS:
Southern snow while northern Australia swelters
Sydney will benefit from the fresh weather, with westerly winds expected to reduce humidity after a record wet summer.
Sydney's weekend temperatures are forecast around 30 degrees with minimal cloud cover and a light breeze.
North of Sydney, temperatures are set to climb.
Grafton in northern NSW is forecast to reach 38 degrees on Friday, and expect humidity.
The BOM has issued low-intensity and severe heatwave warnings along the eastern coast of Queensland, with humidity accompanying days above 30 degrees.
Rainfall in Queensland's coastal north could reach 100 millimetres over several days.
Tropical inland Queensland and the NT could reach 200 millimetres in rainfall.
Steve Evans
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Steve Evans is a reporter on The Canberra Times. He's been a BBC correspondent in New York, London, Berlin and Seoul and the sole reporter/photographer/paper deliverer on The Glen Innes Examiner in country New South Wales. "All the jobs have been fascinating - and so it continues."
Victoria Lee
The Canberra Times Journalist, Producer
The Canberra Times Journalist, Producer
