Australia Weather News
The south-east is about to revisit winter. - ABC
It may have felt like spring had sprung, but winter still has a sting in its tail for Australia's south-east.
A looming cold snap has Melbourne and Hobart looking at forecast maximums of just 12 degrees Celsius on Friday and 13C on Saturday.
Adelaide isn't expected to fare much better, expected to reach only 13C on Friday and 15C on Saturday.
Canberra's outlook includes particularly frosty overnight temperatures, with its forecasted range of 2C to 11C on Friday and 1C to 15C on Saturday.
It's all thanks to a cold front, according to Diana Eadie from the Bureau of Meteorology's extreme weather desk.
"We'll see a strong cold front move across the south-east from this evening onwards and a number of low pressure systems developing along that cold front," she said.
These lows are expected to bring a more southerly airstream, dropping temperatures up to 12 degrees below average for this time of year.
Wind, rain, snow and storms
It's not just going to be cold in the south-east; brace for storms, high winds, rain, hail and snow.
At this stage, Ms Eadie said snow was expected to fall to around 700 or 800 metres above sea level in Tasmania, Victoria, New South Wales and South Australia.
"We could see a dusting of snow on the Mount Lofty and Flinders ranges in South Australia on Friday," she said.
Ms Eadie said winds would be "really strong", particularly for New South Wales and alpine areas from Friday into Saturday.
"With snow and wind, it could make for dangerous driving conditions, so there's the potential for icy roads and blizzards in alpine areas."
As usual, keep up to date with warnings via the BOM or your local ABC on Facebook or radio and heed the advice of your emergency services.
But it's spring
We may associate spring with sunshine and roses, but according to Ms Eadie, spring weather is variable.
"Spring is a time of transition. We often see these significant contrasts between warm weather and then these much colder outbreaks," she said.
So how rare is this cold snap?
"I would say unusual but not unprecedented," Ms Eadie said.
And it's not going to last long; temperatures are expected to be up again by early next week.
"By the time we get to Tuesday and Wednesday, much of the south-east will be in above-average to average temperatures once again."
ABC