THE Mount Macedon, Mitchell and Whittlesea regions received a powdery surprise last week with a dusting of snow on Tuesday.
Residents of Romsey, Clarkefield, Beveridge, Whittlesea, Wallan, Kilmore, Clonbinane and Broadford all reported snow on Tuesday afternoon.
Wallan woman Kristyn Shady was working at a friend’s property in Clarkefield when snow began to fall.
With her camera at hand, she snapped some pictures of the snow settling on the backs of sheep.
She said the conditions made for some unique photographs.
“We were doing lamb marking and I was also there to take photos of a horse that was for sale, so I had my camera on me and took some photos,” she said.
“It took us by surprise. We were just amazed because I’ve worked at that farm for four or five years and we’ve never seen snow there. It was a great experience.”
“I have a photography business. I usually take photos of animals, especially at horse shows.”
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Miriam Bradbury said the snow was the result of an unusually strong cold front that rolled through Victoria.
“Essentially it’s a very cold air mass moving across the state, resulting in rain falling as snow instead,” she said.
“We always see the snow level dipping when a cold front moves through, but we saw the snow level getting down to as low as 150 metres above sea level on Tuesday.
“It’s pretty unusual to see snow down quite that low. Every winter we have stronger fronts that push snow onto the Dandenongs and areas like that, but this is a particularly strong one and it’s probably a once-in-10-years kind of event seeing it get that low.”
Ms Bradbury said more snowfall in the region this winter was unlikely, but not impossible.
“It’s unlikely we’ll see it get down as low as 150 metres above sea level for the rest of this winter, but certainly with other cold fronts moving through we’ll have more snow, it just won’t necessarily be down to those very low levels,” she said.
“If we do get any more strong cold fronts we could see a dusting around the Kilmore area and the Macedon Ranges, but these things are difficult to pick up too far in advance.
“They come out of the Southern Ocean and we track them as they come across.”
