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Behold These Breathtaking Pictures Of Aussie Summer Snow

Everybody chill.
Just going for a walk. As you do. In Australia. In summer.
Hotham
Just going for a walk. As you do. In Australia. In summer.

Anybody watch the cricket on Sunday night? If you did, you would have seen the good people of Geelong rugged-up in the stands like it was a football game in July.

The reason they were rugged-up -- in what, statistically, is Geelong's (and most of southern Australia's) hottest month of the year -- was because an unseasonal cold front moved north out of the Southern Ocean. The front brought chilly, squally winds and strong showers to coastal regions of Victoria, as well as snow to the NSW and Victorian High Country.

This is the Eyre T-Bar at Perisher in NSW on Monday morning. Quick! Crank up the lifts!
SMSkier on ski.com.au
This is the Eyre T-Bar at Perisher in NSW on Monday morning. Quick! Crank up the lifts!

This is not unusual for summer. In fact what's been unusual so far in the summer of 2016/17 is how few cool outbreaks have penetrated north. This, according to a meteorologist we spoke to recently, is why the hot spells have been so prolonged. The airmass, said our meteorologist, has not been "freshened up".

But things got niiiice and fresh over the weekend. Ready for more pics? Here's what it was like on Sunday afternoon as the snow fell at Mount Buller ski resort.

Here's a lovely pic of Thredbo on Monday morning. Australia's biggest ski mountain was snow-covered all the way to about two thirds of the way down the hill.

Unfortunately, it's still nearly four months till ski season.
Thredbo.com.au
Unfortunately, it's still nearly four months till ski season.

And another Thredbo pic, from a local resident who writes a popular snow blog.

Richard's Report

And another. This one shows Funnel Web at Thredbo, one of Australia's steepest runs.

We've seen worse conditions in midwinter.
Richard's Report
We've seen worse conditions in midwinter.

Here's the moody scene at the top of nearby Perisher ski resort.

ski.com.au

One or two Victorian towns recorded their coldest ever overnight February temperatures on Sunday night, while Melbourne recorded its coldest February day in 12 years, reaching just 17.3.

Despite that, Melbourne's overall average maximum temperature for February 2017 remains right on average, with hotter weather forecast for later this week.

This snowgum at Mt Hotham ski resort thought the snow was just fine, thanks very much. Well we assume it did. There reports of locals at Hotham going for a cross-county ski on the 5-10 cm cover.

Wait a sec, can trees even think?
Hotham ski resort
Wait a sec, can trees even think?

At the Kosciuszko lookout above the NSW ski resort of Charlotte Pass, there was not much of Mt Kosciuszko to look out at on Monday morning.

SMSkier ski.com.au

Meanwhile, Melbourne meteorologist Jane Bunn captured this rather stunning funnel cloud over Melbourne's eastern suburbs. Scary. But ultimately harmless.

We had a funnel cloud over eastern suburbs this afternoon

A post shared by Jane Bunn (@janebunnofficial) on

So is autumn here? Nope, not yet. All Australian capital cities have days of 30 degrees or higher in the forecast this week. OK, so Hobart is only tipped to reach 29 on Wednesday, but that's close enough.

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