Australia has finished one of its worst snow seasons on record after an unusually warm winter forced ski fields across southeastern states to close early.
The lack of snowfall has dealt a severe financial hit to major operators, with the valuation of Thredbo Alpine Resort dropping from $292 million to $143 million.
Selwyn Snow Resort in New South Wales and Mount Baw Baw in Victoria were among the alpine snowfields forced to shut down operations ahead of schedule following a lack of cold weather fronts.
The Australian Alps, which span across New South Wales, Victoria, and the Australian Capital Territory, contain Australia's highest mountain ranges and major alpine sports destinations. Ski resorts in the region rely heavily on cold Antarctic weather systems during the southern hemisphere winter months from June through August.
Ben Domensino, a meteorologist at Weatherzone, said the Australian Alps had one of the worst snow seasons on record. He explained that a lack of strong cold fronts passing over southeastern Australia during the last three months allowed temperatures to run well above average throughout winter, with a noticeable absence of polar outbreaks and prolonged cold spells.
Weatherzone is one of Australia's primary commercial weather forecasting services, providing meteorological tracking and climate data across the country.
Record winter warmth across capital cities
The mild weather extended far beyond the alpine regions, with New South Wales, Victoria, and Tasmania all recording their warmest winter season on record.
According to Weatherzone, Sydney, Melbourne, and Canberra each logged their warmest winter temperatures since official record keeping began in 1859, 1855, and the 1920s respectively. Sydney recorded an average winter temperature of 15.29C, while Melbourne recorded 12.18C and Canberra reached 8.14C.
Sydney, the state capital of New South Wales, and Melbourne, the capital of Victoria, are Australia's two largest metropolitan areas, while Canberra serves as the national capital inland. All three cities typically experience cooler weather patterns across the southeastern region during winter.
Spring heat and Super El Nino warnings
The higher than average temperatures have led to one of the warmest starts to spring in parts of the country, with climate modelling indicating that southern states could face the hottest spring on record. Temperatures are expected to intensify throughout summer, with low rainfall increasing the risk of bushfires and drought.
The Bureau of Meteorology declared a Super El Nino in June following four months of persistent ocean warming in the tropical Pacific Ocean. The bureau warned the climate pattern could become one of the strongest weather events recorded since baseline measurements began in 1950, leaving Australia at risk of limited rainfall and hotter temperatures.
The Bureau of Meteorology is Australia's national weather and climate agency, responsible for issuing public weather forecasts and environmental monitoring. The El Nino climate pattern occurs when surface waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean warm significantly, frequently shifting rainfall patterns and elevating heat across eastern and southern Australia.
Although snow depth was well below average across alpine regions in Victoria and New South Wales, a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman did not attribute the outcome solely to El Nino. He noted that El Nino years tend to have lower peak snow depths in the alpine region, but added that snowfall remains highly variable over the course of a season.
The spokesman stated that climate and weather systems are complex and cannot be explained by a single influencing factor. While El Nino often brings drier conditions to central and eastern Australia in spring, weather outcomes can vary, and a warming global climate may cause rainfall impacts to differ from past events.
Looking ahead, the Bureau of Meteorology spokesman warned that warmer baseline conditions make typical El Nino impacts, such as heatwaves, drought, and bushfire risk, more intense. Combined with long term drying trends across southern Australia in recent decades, officials cautioned that the ongoing weather event increases the chances of extreme heat and drier conditions across the country.
