Australia Weather News

On July 25, 1986 Hobart woke up to a blanket of snow that brought the city to a near standstill.

In the biggest snowfall since 1921, eight centimetres settled over the Tasmanian capital, closing schools and turning roads into dangerous skidpans.

All major roadways around the state were covered in snow and ice, with reports of 20 semi-trailers skidding off the Midlands Highway and businesses reporting just a 20 per cent turnout for work.

Les Jackson lived in Bellerive in 1986 and worked for the state auditor. He said that Friday was an unusually quiet day.

"When I got up there was six inches of snow all over the lawns [at Bellerive]," he said.

"There were cars skidding all over the road, not too many cars moving.

"Lots of kids out throwing snowballs."

City skier ends up on the news

Mr Jackson had to travel from Bellerive over the River Derwent to the CBD for work, and the thick layer of snow was too good an opportunity to pass up.

"I'm a dedicated skier," he said.

"So on that day I tossed my skis in the back of my car."

The Tasman Bridge was covered in snow that morning and it gave Mr Jackson an opportunity to make history.

"There was one lane operating to get over the bridge," he said.

"I drove over the bridge, parked on the other side, and I then walked back up on to the bridge and then skied down the bridge."

Mr Jackson said he just wanted to ski the bridge for some personal fun, but when a mate of his turned up with a TV camera, it became an iconic moment the whole state shared.

"The guy who was driving the WIN TV vehicle happens to play soccer with me and he said, 'Do it for me', and so I did."

Mr Jackson started skiing in 1970 when he joined the University of Tasmania skiing club.

He was keen on the sport from the start and decided to add to the university-owned ski hut at Mount Field to allow more opportunities for skiing.

"I actually installed lights on top of the tow, the uni tow," he said.

"So when I'd finished soccer on a Saturday afternoon, drive up there with a few mates, start up the generator and turn on the lights and ski from about 7:30pm to 11:00pm."

He said at the peak of the club, 50 to 70 people would travel up to Mount Field from Hobart for night skiing.

However, by the end of the 1970s, the lights were removed from the ski towns for safety reasons and the number of days of good skiing started to dwindle.

"Back in 1970 to '75, Mount Field had 12 to 14 weekends a year with more snow than you could poke a stick at," he said.

"And then gradually over the next 10 to 20 years it's gone down to, if you're lucky, one to two weeks a year when you might be able to doing some skiing."

While there have been a handful of days since 1986 when it has snowed on Hobart — with a thin layer of snow settling on beaches in 2015 — Mr Jackson's skis have not had a city use since.

"We've had a couple of very thin smatterings but not enough to get the skis out for the bridge."