Australia shivers through coldest start to September EVER: Freezing weather and record Spring snowfall turns coastal towns white

Josh Hanrahan
Daily Mail
Wed, 06 Sep 2017 14:50 UTC

A massive dump of snow led to one home being 'snowed in', with this incredible photo showing the severity of the snowfall

As the calendar flips over to Spring much of the nation prepares for warm weather in the knowledge summer is not far away - but not Victoria.

While Winter may have come and gone for almost every other state, the mainland's south-east has been lashed by massive amounts of snowfall in the past 24 hours.

But while it's not unusual for a blanketing to hit mountain areas this time of year, the chilly temperatures have seen coastal towns such as Lorne and Apollo Bay turned to white and some homes incredibly 'snowed-in'.

Incredible images posted to social media show the thickness of snow which covered parts of the state on Tuesday.

Towns at sea level turned white with alpine areas receiving up to 30 centimetres and the temperature dropping to as low as -7.5 degrees.

The cold snap caught out two men who found themselves stuck in their vehicle high in the alps for three days before being rescued by the Victorian SES.

With the cold snap caused by a low pressure system moving across the south of the nation, Weatherzone forecaster Rob Sharpe said it's the best time to hit the slopes.

'At least one Victorian location picked up a metre of snow which is a very significant snow fall for this time of year,' he told Daily Mail Australia.

The record levels of falls in some areas led to cars being completely covered in the thick snow

'I think by this Thursday we'll have had more than 250 centimetres, which would be the highest snow depth we've seen in Victoria for at least five years.'

The incredible cold snap also led to records being set in three alpine towns in both Victoria and New South Wales.

Falls Creek, Hunters Hill and Thredbo Village had their coldest September day ever recorded, with maximum temperatures as low as -3.

Parts of Victoria have been blanketed in massive amounts of snow, including coastal areas like Lorne and Apollo Bay

As a cold snap aw temperatures drop below zero, highlands and other areas turned white

But after welcoming summer early with temperatures as high as 29 last weekend, Mr Sharpe said for residents in Sydney the outlook remains promising.

'The system has affected Victoria the most and... meant cold air hasn't pushed north into Sydney, so it's staying pretty mild,' he said.

Snow fell as low as sea level, including at Lorne in the state's south-west which is a popular summer destination

An Antarctic cold snap swept across parts of south-eastern Australia on Tuesday

This snowboarder made the most of the icy conditions at Thredbo Resort in New South Wales