Eastern Australia to shiver through cold week as snow predicted for ski fields in Victoria and NSW

Snow is forecast to fall in the alpine areas of NSW and Victoria as a cold front moves across Australia’s south and east. Photograph: Perisher

Large parts of Australia will shiver through much of the coming week, with temperatures as much as 4C below average expected in some regions.

The Bureau of Meteorology says ski fields could also expect some much-needed snowfalls in time for school holidays in some of the eastern states.

Dean Narramore, a senior meteorologist at the bureau, said a rain band moving through South Australia, Victoria and Tasmania on Saturday would move into the alpine areas of north-east Victoria and southern New South Wales.

“That will bring snow for those that want it in the mountain areas. It’s school holidays in Victoria. People want to hit the slopes and they’ve had very little snow so far,” he said.

“They’re looking at 10-20 cm of snow in Victoria and NSW.”

Narramore said that would be followed by a run of cold days that would see maximum and minimum temperatures fall 2-4C below average in many areas.

Melbourne is forecast to have several days this week where the maximum will reach just 12C, while Hobart is expecting 9C on Sunday followed by a run of 11C days.

The bureau is forecasting maximums of 14-16C in Sydney and 13-14C in Adelaide.

Narramore said the colder weather would last most of the week, driven by a large high pressure system that was feeding cold air across the country.

“Even up into northern Australia – Northern Territory and Western Australia – temperatures are below average there as well,” he said.

The rain band moving through southern parts of the country on Saturday brought falls of up to 90mm in some parts of northern and western Tasmania and some needed falls of more than 50mm around the Mount Lofty Ranges in South Australia.

The wet weather will move into NSW on Sunday and up into southern Queensland on Monday and Tuesday.

That will be followed by a showery pattern for coastal parts of NSW through the week but Narramore said the falls would not be as heavy as what coastal NSW had experienced the past few weekends.