Eager snow-goers are likely to face grassy, slushy slopes when the ski season opens this weekend – but there’s no reason to panic.
Many alpine destinations will therefore run only limited skiing options.
Resorts had already turned to manufacturing snow with only low totals predicted to fall before the season opened.
Weatherzone said Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales would run “beginner’s carpets” this weekend – slopes of 50 to 100 metres in length, with no chairlifts operating.
Mount Buller and Mount Baw Baw in Victoria have both turned to “snow factories”.
While snow-making involves blasting fine mist into cold night air to form crystals that settle just like snow, Weatherzone said “snow factories” involved the manufacture of an icy slush inside a shipping container.
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“The result looks like a lemonade slurpee from the service station and is then emptied out and spread out onto the slopes, where it has a consistency like slushy spring snow,” Weatherzone said.
However, the weather reporting site pointed out that a grassy start to the season didn’t mean bare slopes would persist.
“Looking ahead, the good news is that the first serious snow of the season is due midweek, with totals of 20 to 40 cm possible across the high country of NSW, Victoria and Tasmania,” Weatherzone said.