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The Canberra Times
The Canberra Times
Bageshri Savyasachi

Weekend at the snow looking good after school rush dies down

While Thursday's minus five degrees felt like minus 10, Friday is much different with 1.3 degrees recorded at Canberra Airport and 1.4 recorded at Tuggeranong.

It's still a cold start to the day with partly cloudy and calm conditions following some cold fronts earlier in the week.

Better to be cold at the snow than in the city?

"There's a weak front crossing which might bring a little bit of snow, not a whole lot expected, probably single digits in terms of centimetres. But after that, the forecast is really settling down moving into the weekend," Angus Haines from the Bureau of Meteorology said.

There were possible snow flurries predicted around the alpine area in recent hours, but they are expected to dry up before the weekend. There is no snow in the forecast for Saturday or Sunday according to the Bureau.

People gather at the Perisher Ski Resort to enjoy the snow. Picture by Dion Georgopoulos

Saturday, looks like a nice day for both Perisher and Thredbo, mostly clear and sunny. Wind is not expected to be very strong, between 15 to 25 kilometres an hour on the mountains.

On to Sunday and in what is forecast to be a fairly settled day.

"It's likely to be a cloudy day on Sunday but again the wind is not expected to be particularly strong around those alpine areas," Mr Haines said. "Doesn't look like there'll be much or any snowfall in the forecast for Sunday either."

It will be a top of four degrees at Perisher this weekend, with Thredbo experiencing a top of one degrees.

School holiday rush comes to an end

The Ampol service station in Jindabyne with cars backed up waiting to fuel up earlier in the snow season. Picture supplied

Road-tripper Tom Broadhurst-Hill had been driving around the mountains in his Tesla on July 16, when he noticed a "steady stream" of traffic about 5pm.

"You get to the end of the Alpine way ... and there was a back up of traffic there coming from both directions towards Jindabyne. At Jindabyne, we noticed the petrol stations had queues, some of them out onto the road," he said.

Perisher Ski Resort was packed last weekend with the last of the school holiday crowd. The weather didn't help either. Thanks to a blizzard, de-icing issues and high speed winds, lifts were delayed and could not be safely operated.

"With the school holiday-rush coming to an end this week and the wind dying down, there'll be a refreshing change of pace across the mountain," Robert Lloyd, sales and marketing director at Perisher, said.

A visiter hits the snowy slopes at Perisher Ski Resort. Picture supplied

He said there were incidents on the road, including people pulling over to the side of the road to fit chains, which led to congestion.

"We saw many ill-equipped drivers who just weren't prepared for the conditions or driving for the terrain," Mr Llyod said.

He advised people to take the Skitube, for a 10-minute trip up the mountain, instead of driving. He added the new Snowy Mountains bus service was also available at frequent intervals, seven days a week.

"The bus is a safe and convenient way to travel between Jindabyne and Perisher," Mr Llyod said.

"We also have a heap of fun events lined up, including Atomic and Salomon Demo Days, night skiing and fireworks and a heap of live music."

At Thredbo, there have been more than 185 snow guns firing across the entire resort, with all their lifts running and majority of the terrain open.

"We've got a good run of really cold nights, which means that we can get a lot of snowmaking done," Thredbo's brand and marketing manager Richie Carroll said. "It's shaping up to be a great weekend and some nice blue skies for everyone to enjoy."

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