'Everything is all white': heavy snow falls in parts of NSW
Stephanie Gardiner
June 21, 2011 - 5:57PM
A blanket of white covers a field in Orange. Photo: David Gardiner
Parts of central west NSW have disappeared under a blanket of snow, with the "crazy" weather forcing the closure of a major highway.
The Bureau of Meteorology had reports of about 2cm of snow falling in Orange and Oberon, with some falls also in the Blue Mountains, including Mount Victoria.
A layer of snow covers the ground at Mount Victoria today.
Just after 3pm, the temperature in Oberon dropped to 0.2 degrees, with 0.6 in Orange and 0.1 in Mount Boyce, one of the highest points in the Blue Mountains.
Kimmy Yee, who was at work in a bakery in Oberon, described the snowfall as "crazy".
"The cars are all white, everything is all white here.
Snow at Mount Victoria in the Blue Mountains. Photo: Julie Flannery
"It's actually snowing sideways."
Charlie Ginty could see snow settling on the hills about five kilometres outside of Orange.
"The flakes were really big, it was quite heavy."
The Roads and Traffic Authority said heavy snow fall had closed the Great Western Highway between Bathurst and Lithgow and urged drivers the Bathurst, Orange, Blayney and Cowra areas to use caution on the snowy roads.
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