Fresh snow, and plenty of it, is coming to the Australian high country in a prolonged snowfall event which is set to persist from Sunday through to next Thursday.

This looks like being a classic winter pattern, where the arrival of the first cold front is preceded by warm air and a few hours of rain across the mountains, before a southwesterly stream establishes, potentially enabling multiple bursts of fresh snow over several days.

All told, this system has the potential to deliver more than half a metre of fresh snow at elevations around 1800 metres, with heavier accumulations possible on the nation’s highest peaks between 1800 metres and 2228 metres (the height of Mt Kosciuszko).

Let’s break this event down into two distinct phases:

Phase one: rain, then snow at high elevations from Sunday into Monday

On Sunday, the cold front approaches southeastern Australia.

A strong pressure gradient between the outgoing high pressure system and the low pressure system centred over waters west of Tasmania will ensure wild winds, with severe weather warnings for damaging winds likely to be issued across several states. Please check the Weatherzone warnings page for the latest warnings. 

The band of rain preceding the cold front should turn to snow at higher elevations later on Sunday. By Monday morning, the snow level should drop to around 1000 metres, meaning snow falling well below the base level of all mainland ski resorts.

At this stage, the greatest confidence for heavy snowfalls in the coming week is currently focused on this first cold front. Half a metre of snow could fall with this system alone at higher elevations, with snowfall totals of at least 30 centimetres looking highly likely.

Phase two: potentially heavy snowfalls on Tuesday and Wednesday

The second phase of this event is a period of greater uncertainty for now, with a significant divergence between forecast models. This is not unusual for predicted weather systems which are five or more days in the future.

The ECMWF model predicts as much as another half a metre of fresh snow for both the Central Highlands of Tasmania and the mainland high country over the 72 hours leading up to the evening of Thursday, August 13.

The GFS model (right) also predicts heavy snowfalls for Tasmania, but accumulations of no more than about 10 centimetres for the mainland over the same period.

We’ll update you on both systems in coming days.

2026 snowpack nears the one-metre mark up high

Image: Comparison of the 2025 season (light blue) and the 2026 season to date (dark blue) at Spencers Creek, NSW. Source: Snowy Hydro.

Even before the arrival of the impending snowy period described above, there’s good news in the Australian Alps about the 2026 snow season.

On Wednesday, hydro-electric operator Snowy Hydro released its latest measurements at the three sites where it has regularly measured snow depth throughout the cooler months since 1954.

The depth at Spencers Creek – the highest of the three sites, roughly halfway between the NSW ski resorts of Perisher and Thredbo – was 87.1 centimetres. That’s still below average for this time of year, but it does mean that 2026 has now exceeded the peak depth of 85.1 cm in 2006 – the worst season on record.

Whatever happens over the next week, it’s extremely likely that the natural snow depth at Spencers Creek will be well over a metre by this time next week, and that Australia’s ski resorts will have the majority of their lifts open.

Earlier this week, Thredbo became the first Australian ski area to operate at full steam in 2026, with all 15 of its lifts spinning. Please check the Weatherzone snow page for the latest forecasts, live cams and much more.