2001 Snow Reports and Chases
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June 2001:

June 15th:

A nice little chase out to the Oberon area today. Overnight minimum in Blackheath was -2.5 which is quite cold for us, being high on a ridge top. Adam and I left Blackheath just before 6am as we knew by now that this was a fairly marginal event and thought our best chance of seeing falling snow, would be early. Upon arrival at Mount Trickett, we observed snow on the ground in the 1.5 to 2.5cm range. No falling snow was observed. At Shooters Hill snow on the ground was also observed, again it was in the 1.5 to 2.5cm range. There was quite a bit of ice around in these places and I'd estimate the temperature was around -3 to -4 at the time. We did observe some light snow falling at Shooters Hill. Arriving in the township of Oberon saw light snow on the ground there, no more than 1cm by mid morning. Blackheath had a brief, very light fall of snow on the previous day at around 4:24 pm and light falls of snow/sleet was observed at Medlow Bath at around 7pm that night.

July 2001:

July 6th:

Another nice snow chase out to Oberon today. Some excellent photos were sent to me via email this morning from an Oberon resident, prompting me to make a quick dash out to our snow mecca once again. The morning in Blackheath presented us with around one to two centimetres of wet snow and a temp of minus 0.5. I suspected this would translate to even more snow out west but was surprised by just how much! After a late start, we headed out west at around 10:30am. Both Adam and I were surprised at how little snow there was in the Good Forest/Hampton area. The snow didn't really start to appear until the Mount Bindo turn off to Oberon. Gradually it became thicker, reaching a depth of around 5 to 7 centimetres in the township. Shooters Hill had its usual beautiful mantle of snow but it was Mount Trickett that really presented us with a surprise! Snow, snow and more snow. Using the trusty snow stick, depths of 17 centimetres were recorded although the average in this area was 10 to 12 centimetres. The snow was almost perfect, if you can say such a thing; dry, soft and light - pristine powder. There was very little ice around on this trip but the snow certainly made up for it. Apart from a near miss with a semi-trailer sliding onto our side of the road on our way home, it was a lovely snow experience, yet again.



August: 2001

August 1st:

A somewhat surprising fall of snow today. The temp was around 10C at lunch time and fell to 3C by 2pm. Light flurries fell in above zero temps for about fifteen minutes as the air was relatively dry, providing an evaporative cooling effect. Its not unusual to see flakes in above zero temps in our area. The conditions have to be right though, once the relative humidity rises, you will usually see rain return. Winds were strong today too, with gusts around 70 kph. Next morning saw a heavy frost with a temp of -3.5, very cold for our area.

August 17th:

After the cold day on the 8th of August that saw sleet in the afternoon, it had pretty much been quite mild since then. Winds freshened from the north west by Thursday the 16th and had become quite strong by nightfall. The next morning greeted us with a nice 4cm cover of snow and strong winds gusting to 94kph. A quick trip out to Mount Trickett, saw about 5 to 10cm of snow there. The snow was light and dry. The next day also saw cold temps with a maximum of 5C and intermittant rain, sleet and ice shards falling throughout the day.

August 21st:

From mid August, winter had finally decided to give us a real blast and today was no exception. Sleet then snow fell at around 7am settling to a light covering on the ground before melting by mid morning. Sleet and snow showers re-appeared in the afternoon. The next day was similar with a light cover of snow in the morning that soon melted only for the snow showers to re-emmerge that afternoon. On both days, the temperature struggled to get to 5C.

August 27th:

With sleet falling the previous afternoon and the models suggesting more cold air to come, I wasn't surprised to see it snowing early this morning. It struggled to get to 2.5C as a maximum but for the most of the day it was closer to 1C or colder. Snow and sleet showers continued off and on all day, sometimes quite intense. Little snow accumulated as most of it fell in temps just above freezing and with fresh winds.