Cold snap sees rain and snow blanket southeast while fires continue to burn

It has been a volatile start to spring for Australia’s east as tempestuous conditions including thick snow and heavy rain hammered parts of NSW on Tuesday.

With Sydney’s CBD posting temperatures of 27 degrees on Monday, Tuesday morning would have been a shock for commuters with just 9 recorded during the rush hour, less than half of what the mercury was showing 24 hours earlier.

The cold change was accompanied with a deluge of rain. From 6am to 9am about 10mm fell across the CBD on Tuesday.

Up to 50mm could fall across Sydney by the end of the day.

Just north of the state capital, the Hunter Coast and Hunter Valley are expected to cop the brunt of the downpour, which is being dubbed a ‘rain bomb’, with 60mm expected across the region.

“We’ve got a trough that’s passing over NSW and a cold front behind it,” Weatherzone meteorologist Craig McIntosh told Yahoo News Australia on Monday.

“This time of year you will see dramatic changes one day to the other due to that air mass being dragged down to the south.”

And there will be no respite for Sydneysiders with The Bureau of Meteorology indicating the wet conditions will stick around until Thursday, with showers easing for Friday before returning for the weekend.

Temperatures will increase however, with highs of 19 on Wednesday and 21 on Thursday.

Snow blankets ACT and parts of NSW

A drop in temperature saw a surprise layering of snow in several areas including Canberra and Goulburn.

Temperatures were just 3 at 7am on Tuesday in the nation’s capital after a low of 0.8 during the night.

An image uploaded to Twitter by Goulburn racehorse trainer Danny Williams showed Goulburn racecourse coated in a blanket of snow as parts of mid and southern NSW were left with unfamiliar sights.

There were similar images coming out of Canberra as residents shared their disbelief over the snowy conditions.

Snow returned to Blackheath once more in the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, with motorists along the Great Western Highway being urged to take care.

Farmers and firefighters welcome downpour

Several inland communities desperate for rain during one of Australia’s worst droughts on record welcomed significant downfalls on Tuesday morning.

Mudgee saw 17mm by 9.30am, while Bathurst had 32mm, Gulgong 10mm and Dubbo 7mm.

Goulburn welcomed 22mm as the snow began to melt.

While the cold conditions prompted warnings over livestock, farmers revealed online the snow would provide a slow release of water to their barren land.

“I can’t remember the last time we listened to rain all night,” one farmer in Murrumbateman north of Canberra declared on Facebook.

Yet there was no such luck for communities moving north with towns such as Scone narrowly missing the morning downpour.

As bushfires continue to burn in northern NSW there are hopes the rain will help ease the fires as strong winds subside.

A major fire in bushland around Drake has already burned through more than 60,000 hectares since it began almost two weeks ago with firefighters hoping the rain will extend further north and inland.

If the rain does move north, unfortunately for Queensland there is no indication it will cross the border.

Statewide, 57 bush and grass fires were burning in NSW on Monday afternoon and about 20 were not contained.

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