About four months ago I asked the question Has It Ever Snowed in Brisbane?
The answer was no.
But what about Queensland? Has it ever snowed in Queensland?
About 217 kilometres north-west of Brisbane is a town called Stanthorpe. This morning they recorded a minimum temperature of 3.5° C there, and, along with that say the weathermen, came sleet.
Local residents though are convinced it was snow, not sleet, and many have apparently posted pictures of it on Facebook. Well, I had a good search around and couldn’t find any evidence of that, but I did find this quote from Ballandean resident Apolonia Behan…
“If you can imagine rain but falling down a lot slower and seeing white flakes,” she said.
“When they drop to the ground it all melts because the ground is wet from rain and also it’s too warm for the snow to stay as it is … but it’s like a lovely curtain.”
Sounds like sleet to me.
Ballandean is about 20 kilometres south of Stanthorpe and still (just about) in Queensland.
I’m not saying it didn’t snow in certain places here in Queensland this morning, I’m just saying I can’t find any photos to prove it. If anyone can send me some pics, that would be great!
A little further south into New South Wales though, now that’s a different story. There has been widespread snow which you can see in a short video (well worth checking out) over at ABC News which was also my source for the above quote.
But has it ever snowed in Queensland?
I found an interesting website answering that exact question quite thoroughly. It lists all events of both sleet and snow since 29th of July 1878. Turns out Stanthorpe have had quite a bit of snow and Queensland has had well over 100 falls of snow in the last 132 years.
You can read the complete list for yourself over at WeatherArmadale.com
Now, back to that four month old question…
Has it ever snowed in Brisbane?
Yes, turns out it has. My previous post was wrong!
- 27 July 1882 – Snowfalls observed in Brisbane.
- 27 June 1927 – Snow in Brisbane.
- 21 Sept 1958 – Light snow flakes seen by 4 observers at 5.15pm: OIC Met Office Eagle Farm at Moorooka, a New Zealand woman at Wooloowin, Bowen Hills near Cloudland and at Taringa.
I shouldn’t think any of them resulted in enough snow for a snowman, not even a small one, but recorded snow it is.
Stanthorpe has had snow that many times, there’s a video about it…
But what do kangaroos think of the snow? Over to WarblesOnALot from NSW to answer that one…
Last week temperatures here in Brisbane were as high as 35°C; talk about the weather?
It’s very common for snow to fall in Stanhope. This is where the misinformation is. You originally posted it hadn’t snowed in Queensland.
It would have been very easy to fact check that information.
Don’t quote me, but I’m sure sleet, has fallen in the Atherton Tablelands region, in far North Queensland ??
Yes, I know it snows in Stanthorpe quite often, I’ve been there a few times myself now. Last time I went, the locals told me it was -8°C the week before.
Anyway, did you read the whole article? Down to the bit where I say “Queensland has had well over 100 falls of snow in the last 132 years”? Pretty sure I haven’t said anywhere that it hadn’t snowed in Queensland.
Indeed it has snowed in Brisbane quite a few times. It does indeed snow on the granite belt almost every year. Not only Stanthorpe but Applethorpe, Warwick, Toowoomba also record snow falls.
https://www.facebook.com/Lost.Brisbane/photos/a.126172330827210.22949.122177044560072/347180962059678/?type=3&theater
Great picture, it’s from the snow that fell in 1927, I’ve got that one on my list. I’m not surprised it has snowed a lot in those other places you’ve mentioned, I know they can get very cold.
I remember driving to Toowoomba from Brisbane once, I was wearing shorts and T-shirt which was fine for Brisbane. When I arrived in Toowoomba and got out of the car though, I couldn’t believe it! We actually had to go into a shop and buy some long trousers for my wife, she was freezing. I think even I ended up buying a cheap sweat top as well.
Yes I live in ballandean and yes we did have snow I have seen snow before
Yes, you have, did you get more snow this time round?
There is photographic evidence that it has snowed in Brisbane. On June 27, 1927 a photograph exists of snow on the Lodge, Parliament house.
I’ve not seen the photograph, but yes, that’s one of the incidents that I’ve mentioned above.
In 1943 and 1984 it snowed in Stanthorpe… Have photos of my Grandfather ankle deep in snow the earlier date and we experienced the 1984 one for ourselves!! and yes Stanthorpe is south of Brisbane!
And according to the news today, it just might snow in Stanthorpe again, maybe this weekend or possibly early next week. Get ready to get your camera out again Alison 🙂
Stanthorpe is South-West of Brisbane. But I agree it could snow there, I’ve stayed there in minus 5 degrees celsius.
Gosh, that is cold for Australia.
Those dates of “snow” in Brisbane are obviously jokes.
On 27 June 1927 the MINIMUM temperature in Brisbane was +10.6C. and on 21 September 1958 the MINIMUM was +11.6C, so those guys were definitely on a dope trip to have spotted those snowflakes in their world of fantasy.
Perhaps they were snowflakes then, maybe just the whiff of smoke? I don’t know, I wasn’t there 🙂
misinformation in this article is terrible, yes it has snowed/sleeted in stanthorp, and for anyone interested stanthorp is sou south west of brisbane just short of the nsw border in the highlands
What misinformation are you talking about Jason? What exactly are you disagreeing with?