NSW: Hail and sleet falls in Blue Mountains
22 Nov 2008 2:22 PMSYDNEY, Nov 22 AAP - With just over a week until the start of summer, hail and sleet have been reported in the NSW Blue Mountains and snowfalls have been recorded in the Snowy Mountains.
Hail and sleet fell in the Blue Mountains town of Katoomba at 1.10pm (AEDT)while the top station at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains recorded 3cm of snow on Saturday.
Residents of the Blue Mountains towns of Mount Victoria, Lithgow and the tablelands town of Cooma reported what they believed to be snow falls around 1pm on Saturday.
But a Bureau of Meteorology spokesman said the cold weather falls in the Blue Mountains were unlikely to be snow.
"The temperatures recorded there were between five and nine degrees around 1pm so it's more likely to be soft hail or sleet."
The bureau has forecast snow falls on high parts of the southern tablelandsand snowy mountains above 1000 metres.
After experiencing a pleasant 25 degree day on Friday, Sydneysiders awoke to a cooler change on Saturday with a forecast maximum of 21 degrees and a strong wind warning in place.
A severe weather warning is in place in the Illawarra, Southern Tablelands,ACT, South Coast, and higher parts of the South West Slopes as a cold front crosses the south east of NSW.
Potentially damaging gale force winds are forecast for the south of the state early on Sunday, possibly extending to Sydney.
AAP krcjfm =0A