Has It Ever Snowed in Brisbane?

Friday was the first day of June and, for us here in Australia, the beginning of winter. Just last week, you may recall, I had my breakfast in a beach side cafe, and couldn’t resist sitting on the sand for a while afterwards on such a beautiful 22°C day.

Beach

Last week at the beach

That happened the morning after Blues Fest, which took place an hour or so’s drive south from here. As south equals colder, you can imagine we were not expecting it to be too cold here in Brisbane over this weekend even though it WAS winter.

But check out this…

Snow in Brisbane!Yes, Snow! And it really is in Brisbane! Snow in a suburb called Wilston, just a few clicks north of Brisbane city centre.

But don’t panic, we have not witnessed a freaky weather event, let’s take a few steps backwards and have another look at that snow…

snow tentYes, we had snow in Brisbane, but it didn’t fall from the sky. This snow was the product of a snowmaking machine, and kids just loved it!

In front of the snow tent, the sign said…

Do not throw snowballsYeah, right!

throwing snowballs

throwing snowballs 2The wooden snowman copped most of it…

snowman targetYes, the kids did absolutely love it, even though it was only a tiny bit of snow in a tent…

kids loved itJasmine, our friends daughter, made a small snowman…

snowmanA whole street in Wilston had been closed down for the event, and was now lined with stalls, a couple of kiddie rides, a bouncy castle and face painting.  There were also places to buy food and coffee, or for those who wanted something stronger, a wine or a beer.

We also had jugglers…

jugglersIt’s these kind of community events that Australia seems to thrive on. Nothing big or fancy, but fun for the kids and something for the whole family to do on a Sunday afternoon.

Free, of course!

Oh, just in case you were wondering, no, it has never snowed in Brisbane, not properly.

Update:

When I wrote this article I was so confident it had never snowed in Brisbane that I didn’t bother to do any serious research. I should have. For an update on this article please visit…

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{ 17 comments… add one }
  • Steve June 11, 2017, 7:08 pm |

    I remembering it snowing in East Brisbane in 2007 or 2008. I put my hand out on the balcony and large snow flakes landed on my arm. They melted as soon as they hit he ground.

    • BobinOz June 12, 2017, 9:42 pm |

      Yes, I think somebody else mentioned that as well somewhere, but I am also sure that under the strict rules of ‘snowing’, if it melts as soon as it hits the ground, it just doesn’t count.

      Sounds like you didn’t have much of a snowball fight in East Brisbane in 2007 or 2008 🙂

  • paul May 1, 2015, 3:54 pm |

    Yes it did, about 20 years ago 30 floors up in the Brisbane Administrator, the people saw snow fall, it never hit the ground, but a number of people who grew up in the North of England confirmed it was snow.

    • BobinOz May 1, 2015, 7:18 pm |

      Ha ha, I love that, “but a number of people who grew up in the North of England confirmed it was snow”. I have visions of confused Queenslanders wandering around stroking their chins saying “What is this white fluffy cold stuff that falls from the sky?”

      And the wise men from the the North of England saying “We call this snow. Snow.”

  • Sarah June 22, 2012, 8:29 pm |

    Coldest I’ve ever been was my first winter in Brisbane. When it’s 7 outside, it’s also 7 inside!

    I grew up in Winnipeg in Canada, btw, where it regularly hits -35. Then spent 10 years in the chilly UK.

    But the no insulation and no central heating in Brisbane houses was a shocker!!

    Still, the lovely winter days make up for the cold nights. Nothing better than walking the dogs up Mount Coot-tha in the morning and sitting in the sun drinking my coffee. Heaven. According to my car thermometer it got to 24.5 just after noon…

    • BobinOz June 22, 2012, 10:20 pm |

      Yes, when the sun is out during the day it is glorious isn’t it? But sometimes I think it’s colder in my house than it is outside, probably because it is!

      It is cold at night though, but only by comparison. It’s not really cold, not -35° cold! I’ve not seen frost since I’ve lived here.

  • Sue Courts June 6, 2012, 1:44 pm |

    Rupert, invest in an electric blanket.

    The houses aren’t designed for the cold, even though winter is going to come every year! No one knows why, you just have to embrace it as the Australian way. Or build yourself a house.

    • Rupert June 6, 2012, 2:42 pm |

      Thanks Sue. I’ll invest in several. I can just imagine handing one to each of my guests to wrap around their shoulders at a dinner party!

      I want to embrace the Australian way, I really do, but seriously, the quality of house building is shocking. I will build my own house, but first I’m going to wait for the market to crash. But that’s another debate…

      • BobinOz June 6, 2012, 8:21 pm |

        Yes, cold down there this time of the year, isn’t it? Mind you, it’s not very warm at night up this way either. Anyway, surely you have reverse cycle air conditioning? I would expect so that that money!

        Otherwise, blankets 🙂

        • Rupert June 6, 2012, 9:01 pm |

          Yes, there’s ducted heating upstairs, but I hear it’s really expensive to run, so today we went to Bing Lee and bought a gas heater.

          In the house in every room downstairs there are these funny looking taps on the floor. They’re gas pipes as it transpires – and using it only costs 5 cents an hour! But… the heater was $1500, so whether it works out cheaper at the end of the year, we’ll have to wait and see.

          The house is now warm though – and we’ve cooked our first meal here, so it’s feeling more homely already. We can’t wait for our container to arrive though. Only 8 or 9 weeks to go.

          • BobinOz June 7, 2012, 9:28 pm |

            Houses get really cold when they are empty for a little while, so now that you are all in there and you’ve got your new gas heater, I’m sure you’ll be as warm as toast.

            Waiting for your furniture to show up, not a lot of fun. But when it does get there, it’s like Christmas!

  • Rupert June 6, 2012, 9:34 am |

    Slightly off topic, but last night was our first night in our new house in Sydney (a rental BTW) – and it was COLD!

    The funny thing is, it wasn’t as cold outside. On further examination of the house, the windows are single-glazed and not draft-proofed (in fact the windows are crap) that the house is not insulated and there is no heating downstairs – at all!

    Having spoken to the real estate agent this morning, he tells me this is normal and that is the quality of Australian houses.

    I am trying really hard not to be a whinging pom, but for $1350 A WEEK, I expect a warmer house!

  • DutchExpat June 5, 2012, 9:39 am |

    I am moving! On May 17th (although I must have slept through the event) it was supposedly point one degree Celsius here in the Southern Highlands. I have this on good authority (BOM) but I am pretty sure I was wearing shorts that day which only goes to show that the weather people, well you know what they say about the weather people.

    • DutchExpat June 5, 2012, 12:40 pm |

      The significance of it being point one degree on the 17th of May is of course it being the lowest temperature recorded so far this year.

      • BobinOz June 6, 2012, 12:23 am |

        Hopefully that temperature was for the middle of the night? Did you have socks on?

  • Joel June 4, 2012, 10:30 pm |

    So, what is the coldest that you have ever felt in Brisbane?

    • BobinOz June 5, 2012, 1:16 am |

      Cold enough to put a jumper on, long trousers and socks, but never a coat. The coldest daytime temperature I have ever known here in Brisbane is 12°C.

      Not very cold at all, is it?

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