It was cold in Australia last weekend

Two kangaroos in a snowy woods.

Kangaroos in the snow in Lyonville, in Victoria’s central highlands. Image via Nicholas Dunand/ The Conversation.

It’s winter in Earth’s Southern Hemisphere now. But last weekend – about August 9 to 12, 2019, as we in the Northern Hemisphere continued our summer of record high temps and melting sea ice, plus widespread Arctic fires – Australians in Victoria and New South Wales had extra-wintry weather and unusual snowfall. Writing for The Conversation, Australian climate and atmospheric scientists noted it was one of the longest cold stretches and greatest snowfall totals in Australia in the 2000s. They said that, although snow falls on Australia’s mountains almost every year, it “only rarely” spreads down onto the plains and cities. And they said explained:

Last weekend’s event was probably the most significant snowfall since 2000 in parts of Victoria north of the ranges, and in southern inland New South Wales. In central and northern New South Wales, the last snowfall on this scale was in 2015, while in the hills around Melbourne it was on a par with 2008.

Plus it snowed on an Australian Football League game – called a footy by those down south – for the first time last weekend, as the image below shows.

Read more via The Conservation

Read more via NASA Earth Observatory

Read more via SportingNews.com

Soccer players huddling in the snow.

Snow fell on an Australian Football League game for the first time last weekend, as the GWS Giants and Hawthorn Hawks had their round 21 clash in Canberra, Australia’s capital. Image via SportingNews.com.

Bottom line: Unusual cold in Australia August 9 to 12, 2019.

Source:
https://earthsky.org/todays-image/australia-gets-a-cold-snap-aug-2019