Despite braving temperatures that felt sub-zero due to heavy winds, children were all smiles as they swarmed Mount Ainslie in the morning.

Hackett's Ophelia Rowell brought a carrot in case there would be enough white stuff for her six-year-old son Orson to build his first ever snowman - and there definitely was.

"But I didn't want to ruin mum's good carrot so I used a stick instead," Orson said.

Theresa Bethune from Watson did not believe the hype earlier this week about the predicted snow, and was surprised to see a couple of centimetres on the mountain.

"It's the most I've seen in the 10 years I've been in Canberra," she said.

"We don't get to travel to the snow often so to have it right here on our doorstop is incredible."

Richard Tomlinson also moved to the colder climate from Melbourne almost a decade ago. He thought Wednesday made the chilly weather worth it.

Canberrans took to social media to show off the blanket of white covering their yards, cars and roads. Some were torn between making snow angels and arriving at work on time.

Then there were those who dedicated the whole day to the snow-seeking adventure and drove out to Tidbinbilla Nature Reserve on the fringes of Namadgi National Park, where rangers said two inches of snow fell overnight.

Onlookers to families tobogganing down the walking tracks could have been forgiven for thinking they were moving faster than the cars banked up at the entry of the neighbouring Corin Forrest.

Natalie Turtle had initially planned to visit Corin Forrest before learning severe weather had caused road closures and massive traffic holdups.

"But it is just as nice here and has been so much fun tobogganing all day," Ms Turtle said.

"There are just enough rocks to get some velocity. We have hit a few small trees but no major setbacks."

In between races, her three-year-old son Noah dived onto the fresh powder pretending to be a snow plow, while his cousin Gabrielle ate it like it was ice-cream.

Tidbinbilla ranger Simon Stratford said heavy winds blew more snow over from the mountains than his fellow rangers had seen in the seven years they'd worked at the reserve.

Meanwhile, Thredbo Resort said it had received 70cm of fresh snow overnight on Tuesday, double what it expected.

Earlier in the week, Weatherzone forecast snowfall to reach 600 metres in the region on Wednesday.

While the cold front brought excitement to many Canberrans, it also caused damaging winds and blizzard conditions.

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a severe weather warning for the ACT region with winds up to 90 kilometres an hour forecast for Wednesday.

The National Parks Service of NSW urged people to consider postponing back country travel until conditions improve.