On August 2, the northern part of the Australian state of New South Wales was hit by a powerful snowfall. Up to 16 inches of snow fell in the New England and Northern Tablelands regions, which meteorologists say is the largest amount since the mid-1980s.
Traffic on major highways was blocked, and about 200 vehicles were stuck for several hours in snowdrifts.
The State Emergency Service recorded more than 1,450 calls responding to road blockages, fallen trees, and building damage.
Strong winds along the state’s Northern Coast uprooted trees and tore off roofs. More than 32,000 homes and businesses lost power. The bad weather was accompanied by heavy rain and flooding. In one area, a car was swept away by floodwaters, and the search for a female passenger is ongoing.
In the neighboring state of Queensland, snow also became a rare event — falling for the first time in 10 years in the southeast, including the Dalveen area.
Two days earlier, on July 31, a heavy hailstorm struck South Australia, surprising local residents and tourists. The storm lasted about an hour and a half, covering the desert areas of the Flinders Ranges and the town of Andamooka with a layer of ice, creating the illusion of real snow.
Temperatures dropped to 32°F, while the usual minimum temperature at this time of year is around 46°F.
For this dry and hot region, such events are extremely rare and represent a clear climate anomaly.
The world is being gripped by increasingly powerful and anomalous natural disasters. The international scientific group ALLATRA warned that this would happen more than 10 years ago.. According to their forecasts, the scale of these disasters will grow exponentially, and the current events are just the beginning. Along with their warnings, ALLATRA scientists offer real solutions to the climate crisis. You can learn more about this from the presentations of Dr. Egon Cholakian.