Alpine snow from late Tuesday to Friday - with 30 to 60 cm on the way

Monday's alpine sunshine rapidly disappears on Tuesday as the first in a series of cold fronts arrives.

The system smashing WA to start the week rapidly crosses the Bight, arriving in the southeast on Tuesday. It begins as snow on the highest peaks on Tuesday, then lowers as the colder air arrives (from west to east) later Tuesday afternoon/evening. The snowline from this one should be around the 1500-1600 metre mark.

This is just the first front - with lighter snow continuing on Wednesday, still down to that 1500-1600 metre mark.

The next front is colder and arrives on Wednesday night into early Thursday. This increases the snow intensity again, and should let it lower to around 1000 metres by Thursday morning.

Thursday is a great day in the alps, if you like bucketing snow, throughout alpine elevations. The gusty winds ease as the day goes on - after being potentially wind hold worthy throughout Tuesday, and again later Wednesday into Thursday morning.

Lighter snow continues on Friday, breaking up at times, with the potential for hints of brief sunshine. The cold air also dissipates, with the ability for snow to rise back to the higher peaks by the late afternoon/evening.

All up, this period should bring 30 to 60 cm of snow (the 30cm mark being for elevations around 1500-1600 metres), with the slight potential for isolated falls on the higher peaks of 80cm.

There is another system on the horizon - and this could also be a significant one.

There is the potential for light snow up high at times on Saturday into Sunday morning, then the next cold front arrives. This one again a one-two punch, with snow increasing later on Sunday and again later on Monday.

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