Australia Sees Fresh Snowfall With 2026 Season Starting This Weekend
Australia Sees Fresh Snowfall With 2026 Season Starting This Weekend
Published : 01-Jun-2026 09:24
Australia's 2026 ski season is due to kick off this weekend and the good news is that snow has been falling and temperatures dropping further below freezing overnight for the past few evenings.
Today is the first day of winter in the southern hemisphere by the meteorological measure of the seasons with Australia's ski season traditionally starting on the first full weekend of June, which includes a public holiday on the Monday in most states including the main ski ones of Victoria amnd New South Wales to honour King Charles III's birthday.
The country's largest resort, Perisher, farewelled autumn on Sunday morning with a dusting of snow across the resort just days out from opening day on June 6. Temperatures dipped to .01C at daybreak with around 3cm of snow falling. While over at Hotham, the highest alpine village in Australia, overnight lows dipped to -3C with a dusting of snow across the village. Most other Australian ski areas posted snowfall too.
The first day of winter saw a further 4cm of fresh snow fall overnight at Perisher as temperatures dipped further to -2C in the valley. More snowfall is forecast throughout the coming week.
"As well as natural snowfall, we had 59 snowguns firing from 9pm all through the night, and they are still cranking this morning," said Emily Smith, Senior Manager of Brand + Experience. "The excitement is at an all-time high as we approach opening weekend."
Three Australian areas, Corin Forest, Mt Buller and Thredbo all have all-weather snowmaking machines to guarantee at least some snow cover for opening weekend. Mt Buller has five of these machines, believed to be the most of any ski area in the world.
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