The internet has been in a meltdown the last 10 days as the Opening Weekend snow melted away thanks to warm temperatures and rain despite it being only the first weeks of June.
Australian ski fields have a long history of low-if-not-no-snow in June, the first month of the official ski season. However the most recent June snowfall years have lulled skiers and snowboarders into the belief that June should always be skiable and when, egads, it’s not, then the season is a “write off, it’s over, don’t be a fool to go to the snow.”
Influencers spreading the snow terror on social media know no different, how would they remember that June is, well, traditionally bone dry to start, when their most formative years have been the last five before they got their licence, the right to vote and the addiction to likes and shares.
Then add mainstream media who love a good viral social post showing the snow world is ending and, well, you get a whole lot of people wondering if they can get their money back on their snow holiday booking rather than saying “wow isn’t it amazing that snow making can provide a ski run at Mt Buller this early on.”
Breathe, people, breathe.
It’s early days, even with the BOM declaring El Niño for Australia and New Zealand resorts delaying their openings by weeks (again, this is normal across the ditch as their season snowfalls have been coming in later and later with September being a bumper month).
We spoke to snow obsessive forecaster, Tyson Millar, from Snowstack about the current state of emotional meltdown and whether it’s warranted.
“We’re early days in the winter, this is pretty normal,” said Miller.
“We’ve had a good run of 5 or 6 years June snowfall, and we’re paying dividends at moment. There is potential for end of this month. We do have to endure more of this [warm temps and rain] first. We’re living on edge from early season perspective.
Expectation is we are owed snow in June but long term averages it’s not the case, June has always been quite marginal.
Yes, we’ll get snow. Statistically with El Niño you can expect calm clear conditions at length but that’s not to say that winter isn’t coming because essentially it has to, we will get winter patterns, it’s just a case of acting when they do present.
You get these prolonged periods of clear and calm and marginal conditions then outbreaks, we can expect those in July and August. Just watch forecast and jump on it, it really is a storm chasers season, the heightened variability, simply suggests we will get it but in small windows.”
Keep an eye on the SnowsBest Snow Forecasts for 7 day detailed weather forecasts for the main Australia and New Zealand ski resorts.
You can read more of Tyson’s snow forecasts and predictions via his Snowstack substack
