RESIDENTS of Bathurst and surrounding areas woke to a heavy frost on Sunday morning after a sudden cold snap resulted in widespread snowfalls in the region on Friday afternoon and overnight into Saturday.
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Although swirls of large snowflakes fell in the CBD on Friday afternoon, rain before and afterwards meant the snow didn’t settle.
It was a different story in outlying areas, with good falls between Bathurst and Orange, at Yetholme, Oberon, Black Springs, Mount Horrible and in the Blue Mountains.
The temperature dropped from 7.8 degrees at 12.44pm on Friday to 0.8 degrees at 2.30pm.
It got down to minus four in Bathurst in the early hours of Sunday morning, although Weatherzone said it felt more like minus six.
The mercury plunged below zero at 10.30pm on Saturday and continued to drop until 7.30am on Sunday, when it started to rise.
Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh said overall temperatures were five to six degrees below the June average right across the weekend.
He said the snow was a result of a strong cold front passing over south-east Australia and the Central Tablelands.
“It was the strongest cold front of the year, and after a relatively warm autumn, it wasn’t a subtle change,” he said.
Mr McIntosh said that the region could expect another cold front on Monday on top of the current one, which will result in a maximum of six degrees for Bathurst.
“With cold air on top of cold air, people should rug up, with temperatures well below what would normally be expected in June,” he said.
He added that there will be cloud cover, and possibly some rain.