Polar winds bring snow and wind gusts up to 120km/h

An Antarctic blast has swept across NSW and Victoria, blanketing Oberon and Orange in snow just before the start of spring.

The snow was triggered by polar winds that crossed into South Australia on Friday. The winds dumped up to 77 centimetres of snow onto alpine ski resorts before reaching areas as low as 700 metres on Saturday.

Tents, cars and paddocks were covered on Shooters Hill and Mount Trickett near Oberon. The Blue Mountains got a light dusting at Mount Victoria at sunrise.

The snow-covered ridgeline of the Brindabellas framed Canberra on Friday as temperatures fell to minus 6 overnight.

Mount Boyce near Blackheath in the Blue Mountains recorded 0 degrees just before 6am, but the apparent temperature, which includes wind chill, was as low as minus 10.

The snow has been accompanied by wind gusts of up to 120km/h in parts of Victoria and NSW.

The Bureau of Meteorology cancelled its severe weather warning just after 4.30pm on Saturday after the winds eased below warning thresholds throughout NSW. A severe weather warning for parts of north-eastern Victoria was cancelled earlier on Saturday.

The cold front is expected to ease as the winds move further east into the Tasman Sea on Sunday.

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