Residents of a sleepy town on the southern coast of NSW were treated to scenes resembling a winter wonderland after a freak hail storm blanketed a popular beach in snow only a day after the mercury soared above 30 degrees.

Local Allen Coulthard, 27, captured some of the spectacular scenes at Malua Bay Beach last night as his children used a body board to glide along the seemingly snow-blanketed shore.

Mr Coulthard, who works as a baker, said the drama unfolded as his family sat down to dinner last night.

"It was like a normal sunny day and I then it became overcast and all of a sudden," he told ninemsn.

"We were in the middle of having dinner and then it started hailing. No warning at all."

"Once it stopped we went out to the front yard and my brother showed up saying that there was more at the beach."

With his wife, two children and brother's family in tow the group headed to the water, where around 50 other locals were taking in the unusual spectacle.

"They were looking around, kids were playing and people were throwing ice balls," Mr Coulthard said.

Video taken by the family shows excited children using a body board to slide on the slippery shore.

Mr Coulthard was also filmed standing on a body board gliding towards the beach as onlookers cheered.

The baker, who has lived in the area for around 16 years, said he had never seen anything like it before.

The deluge of "marble-size" hail was even more unusual because it came after a day when the temperature crossed 30 degrees.

Mr Coulthard said there were still traces of hail around this morning.

Source: Allen Coulthard