A wind gust of 163 km/h was recorded in the southern Tasmanian outpost of Maatsuyker Island around dawn on Monday morning, as a vigorous westerly airstream lashes southeastern Australia.

The gust was near the upper limit of the strongest gust you’d typically expect in a category 2 cyclone – meaning it was very close to the equivalent of a category 3 cyclone. 

But this was no tropical system. The engine of this morning’s cold, fearsome winds was a strong low pressure system centred well south of Australia near Antarctica.

The wild winds whipped Tasmania ahead of the passage of a cold front, which will cause snow to fall as low as 600 metres above sea level in Tasmania later today. Snow is already falling at the state’s higher elevations.

Strongest Tasmanian wind gust since 2024, NSW and Vic gusts also exceed 100 km/h

The 163 km/h gust at Maatsuyker Island was the equal-strongest recorded gust at the site (or anywhere in Tasmania) since August 2024. The weather station is situated on an elevated clifftop near the lighthouse on the island’s southwestern tip, where a gust of 163 km/h was also recorded in October 2025. 

Other Tasmanian locations where gusts exceeded 100 km/h included:

Tasman Island, 120 km/h gust at 10:43 am

Kunanyi/Mt Wellington above Hobart, 117 km/h gust at 1:42 am

Scotts Peak, 139 km/h gust at 5:51 am

Wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h at locations in New South Wales and Victoria over the weekend and into Monday morning included:

Thredbo Top Station (NSW), 119 km/h gust at 10:35 am on Sunday

Mt Hotham (Vic), 106 km/h gust at 9:30 pm on Saturday

Hogan Island (Vic) in northern Bass Strait, around 40 km south of Wilsons Promontory, 106 km/h gust at 12:23 am this Monday

Falls Creek (Vic) 102 km/h gust at 11:05 pm on Sunday

The combined radar and satellite loop on Monday morning (below) shows bands of cloud and moisture rapidly moving across Tasmania and the southeastern mainland, shoved along by those fierce westerlies.

Image: Combined satellite and radar loop for SE Australia for the eight hours to 10:30 am (AEST) on Monday, July 13, 2026. Source: Weatherzone.

This is a typically stormy weather pattern for southern Australia in winter, with severe weather warnings for damaging winds in place this Monday for the Snowy Mountains of NSW, parts of Victoria, and numerous forecast districts in Tasmania, especially in the state’s north. 

Blizzards with a little rain thrown into the mix

Significant snowfalls have occurred with this system from Saturday onwards, with a brief surge of very cold air early on Sunday morning bringing snow as far north as the summit of 1397-metre Mt Canobolas, near Orange on the NSW Central Tablelands.

The higher alpine resorts like Perisher and Thredbo in NSW have reported around 25 centimetres of snow to date from this event.

Unfortunately for snow enthusiasts, the snow turned to rain below about 1700 metres on Sunday evening, with a mix of precipitation of both the frozen and unfrozen variety continuing into Monday.

Image: Unfortunately that is a rainbow, not a "snowbow" over the High Noon run at Thredbo, NSW, on Monday morning. Source: "Rusty" via ski.com.au.

A fresh surge of cold air briefly kicks in later this evening into Tuesday morning, which should add up to 10 centimetres to the snowpack, before the atmosphere over the southeast starts to dry out on Tuesday, with winds easing as a high pressure system dominates the weather for the remainder of the working week.

Please check the Weatherzone snow page for the latest snow forecasts, live cam images from the mountains, and more.