Cold snap blankets NSW in snow

Snow spread along the Great Dividing Ranges, falling in Orange, from Lithgow to Katoomba, in Armidale, Glen Innes and Guyra, among other locations.

An upper cold pool was slowly edging north from Sunday, causing snow to redevelop along the Blue Mountains and Northern Tablelands. In these areas snow should be heavier and across some areas that missed out on the weekend.

The NSW Central Tablelands on Sunday - click this photo to see more pics in our online gallery.

A number of major roads in the state have been closed by icy conditions.

On Monday morning, Live Traffic NSW reported the New England Highway was closed between between Glen Innes and Bendemeer. Roads are also closed between Uralla and Gloucester, from Hartley to Jenolan, from Tumbaruma to Batlow, and at numerous places near the Victorian border.

By the time the snow is done on Monday it could even stretch to Stanthorpe in Queensland.

In terms of snowfall, this event is likely to affect the largest region since 2007, possibly earlier. Orange will have one of the greatest snow depths, with 10-15 centimetres predicted to be on the ground early Monday morning.

On Saturday night the front we had all been waiting for crossed the NSW ranges, with two bands of thunderstorms. The arrival of the storms dropped the temperature considerably, with the mercury falling to about 1-4 degrees on the Central Tablelands, cold enough for thundersnow in a lot of areas.

In Victoria, the weekend's afternoon and evening storms didn't quite bring as much snow to low levels as in NSW. Mt Macedon was reported to have a brief flurry amongst the storm. Higher up though, Falls Creek saw about 4cm from the thunderstorms.

It's no surprise that the cold front which delivered the widespread snow has also brought a further cold snap today.

Under dense cloud and an unusually cold airmass, temperatures struggled to rise across NSW, with many places on track to record their coldest temperature in many years on Sunday afternoon.

Although residents across the ranges are no stranger to cold, Nullo Mountain's maximum temperature to 5pm was a duck egg, its coldest day since 1994. Around the southern Alps, Cooma experienced unusual cold, reaching only 2.5 degrees, its coldest day in over 10 years.

Temperatures across the Hunter region were hard-pressed to rise above 10 degrees. For Cessnock, it was the coldest day since 1996 while Scone and Murrurundi Gap had its coldest maximum to 5pm since 2007.

Even coastal districts weren't spared from the teeth-chattering weather. At under 10 degrees, Bega is on track for its coldest maximum temperature since 2003 under a thick blanket of cloud.

To make matters even worse, gusty westerly winds added an element of wind chill, making temperatures across most of NSW feel up 2-5 degrees colder than what the mercury read.

More cold weather is on the way, and sheep grazier's warnings are in place for many NSW districts.

Over the border, forecast lows of six degrees failed to eventuate in Brisbane overnight, with breezy conditions tempering the icy front sweeping across Queensland.

Across Queensland, there had been just one report of snow at Eukey near the NSW border about midnight, Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist David Bernard said, but temperatures remained above freezing in most of the state.

While temperatures lifted from about 3am onwards as wind gusts picked up across Brisbane, the wind kept the actual temperatures a bit lower, with apparent temperatures down around seven degrees.

Sub zero temperatures were only recorded in Thangool Airport in the Capricornia, which dropped to -1.3 degrees and Kingaroy, north of Toowoomba, which dropped to -0.5 degrees.

There had been hopes for snowfall in parts of inland Queensland, following a light dusting over Mount Mackenzie, near Tenterfield, about 20 kilometres from the Queensland-NSW border, at the weekend. The Bureau had given the Granite Belt a 20 to 30 per cent chance for Monday.

But the icy conditions are not leaving in a hurry.

South East Queensland's coldest morning is tipped to be Wednesday, with a low of just four degrees forecast for Brisbane.

The Bureau is still tipping a low of six degrees on Tuesday, however, maximum temperatures are expected to rise above that forecast for Monday.

Monday is expected to bring the coldest daytime temperature of the week, with a high of 16 degrees predicted, well below the average July daytime temperature of 21.9 degrees.

- with Weatherzone & Brisbane Times