Tuesday 3 July 2012

BARRINGTON TOPS SNOW CHASE

From: Barrington Tops, Written by: Grant Burgess

http://www.raymondterrace.hunterweather.com/

Accompanied by Julie Burgess (Mum)

With a cool day forecast & the possibility that snow had fallen across the Barrington Tops in the previous few days, I was keen to break my snow chase drought.

Patchy cloud began to increase from the SW as we drove into the upper hunter during the early afternoon, unfortunately this cloud was short lived.

The drive up the mountains saw the temperature drop from 12°C at Moonan Flat (at 1512), to a mild 5°C at the Dingo Gate (Moonan Lookout at 1545). We found the first settled snow at 1500m with isolated 1-2cm deep patches above this elevation on the drive toward Polblue. Not really any snow at Polblue which surprised me a little, but I did find the odd frost patch in shaded areas. There was also small ice type structures still amongst the grass, obviously from snow melt. I recorded air temperatures between 2.5°C & 3.5°C whilst at Polblue. After Polblue I continued to drive a few kilometres toward the E to check for further snow accumulations across the main range, these were still relatively insignificant however there was still some ice on the road.

My car thermometer ranged from 0 - 4°C across the plateau between 4 & 5pm but favoured sitting on 0°C most of the way. Roads I must say were in an excellent condition.