Alps sprinkled with summer snow

Flurries of snow have been falling all morning in the Australian alps after a cold front forced temperatures to drop to below zero.

The weather bureau's Stephen King says there have been some light falls of snow on the mountains, but says that in itself is not unusual.

"The only thing unusual about it I guess is that we had 45 degrees Celsius [temperatures] this time last week and now it's snowing," he said.

"These cold air outbreaks, we tend to get them all year around. You would have remembered, I think it was in 2006, we had snow on Christmas Day. We tend to get one or two of these situations every summer."

Alice Chilcott from the Thredbo resort says the peaks are dusted white and the rain turned to snow for around 15 minutes in Jindabyne this morning.

She says although summer snow is fairly common, it was surprising after 30-plus temperatures last week.

"We often get snowfalls throughout February, but whenever it comes it still surprises everyone," she said.

"You listen to the report and you think it will never come, but then suddenly you wake up and it's white.

"But that's the mountains, it changes every day and it keeps us on our toes."