Parts of Australia have seen a rare covering of snow after Antarctic winds reached the nation’s southeast coast.
Snowfall was recorded across New South Wales (NSW), Victoria, the Australia Capital Territory and the island state of Tasmania as locals ventured out to make the most of the spring weather.
“We’ve seen light snow make it to Canberra today, and yes even heard a few rogue flakes landed on Parliament House,” in the nation’s capital, the Bureau of Meteorology said in a Twitter post.
The bureau added that more than one metre (3.3 feet) of snow had fallen in a number of alpine regions, and the cold weather would likely remain for several days.
“It’s awesome,” Raj Kumar told the Seven Network after he had travelled from Sydney with his family to see the weather phenomenon in the town of Oberon in NSW’s Blue Mountains.
The same area had been under threat from the country’s extreme bushfires last year.
It comes as the country is impacted by the so-called ‘Antarctic blob’ – a large area of cold air that originated far south of Australia in the polar regions before moving upwards.
Earlier this week Jane Golding from the nation’s Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) told the country’s ABC news the deep low-pressure trough was creating “quite an unusual weather event” – with snow potentially falling below the marker of 500m below sea level.
“Re,” she said.
Additional reporting by agencies
