It was looking promising that the residents of Gungahlin (Canberra) would wake to a 'winter wonderland' scene, with a thin layer of snow covering the ground on July 18.

The ACT Weather Bureau had forecast snow down to 500m o/night on July 17 and into July 18.  The Gungahlin Weather Centre is 634m.

The forecast read "A very cold air mass associated with the change is expected to bring showers, falling as snow to around the 500-600 metre mark across the ACT Tuesday night into Wednesday, with good potential for some snow showers to fall over the Suburbs of Canberra".

Unfortunately, despite the hype, all we woke to on 18 July was cold SW winds and mostly clearing skies.  Snow had fallen across the Brindabella Ranges to low levels, and the snow capped mountains surrounding the city looked spectacular in the early morning sun.

The expected cold change did bring 2.5mm of rain to Gungahlin o/night, but this fell between 6.30pm and 7pm when the temperatures were still too warm for snow.  It was 4.6°C at 6.30pm, and 3.3°C at 7pm.  No rain fell after 8.15pm (temp 3.4°C) and by mid-night there were stars in the sky and the temp was 1.6°C.

Hopefully it won't be long until we get that snow fall the kids of the region are waiting for - including big kids like me!

Weather conditions at Gungahlin as the cold front hit - evening of 17 July 2007: