Higher than average winter temperatures impact Australia’s ski season

Unusually high winter temperatures across south eastern Australia are having a detrimental effect on the ski season across resorts in the Snowy Mountains.

After encouraging early season snowfalls in June, higher than average temperatures during July have left slopes looking bare.

With the current Northern Hemisphere summer being the warmest month on record and parts of South America below the equator experiencing a winter heatwave, unseasonable warmth has been building across Australia with a lack of cold fronts since late July seeing temperatures to climb to 10 degrees above average for eight consecutive days.

As of last week, Selwyn Snow Resort in NSW had insufficient snow to open any ski lifts while a thin strip of snow at Mt Baw Baw in Victoria saw just two ski lifts in operation.

Weatherzone's Bob Neil advised last week "Hotham and Perisher were around two-to-three degrees warmer than usual by day and night.

"While that might not sound like much, it makes all the difference to snowfalls, or lack thereof, as well as to retention of the existing snowpack."

The average minimum temperature at Perisher ski resort in July was -2 degrees, while the long-term average minimum is 5 degrees.

August is peak season for the ski industry when snow depth typically reaches a maximum, but mild weather and rain have eroded the cover during the past few weeks.

Ant Myers, who has worked in Thredbo for more than 40 years, told ABC radio “things are looking fairly grim here at the moment … we've had less than average snow and weather conditions haven't allowed us to make much snow, so look we are really lacking in the snow department … we just can't win a trick at the moment.”

Selwyn Snow Resort, is in its first year of opening since Black Summer, sits at a lower elevation than other alpine fields.

As a result, those with higher elevation, such as Perisher’s Guthega, are receiving enough snowfall for snow sports.

Neil added "while the cover (at Guthega) is thin for this time of year, conditions are still reasonable enough.”

This is aided by snow making and management.

At Spencer’s Creek in NSW (the official snow depth gauge for Perisher and Thredbo) has the current snow depth at 110cms and both the higher resorts of Perisher and Thredbo have most of their lifts open.

Meanwhile in Victoria, Mt Buller has their natural snow depth at 27cms and made at 68cms and Hotham at 54cms.

Forecast colder weather over the coming days may see new snow falls across the alpine region while Snowatch is forecasting the next snow cycle to be on 17th and 18th August with the potential for a second front around 20th August.

Images: Snow cam footage over the last week at Selwyn Snow Resort in NSW (top), Tank Hill at Mt Baw Baw (middle) and the Flip Terrain Park at Mt Buller (below).