Planes flying into Canberra were cancelled as an inch of rain fell on the city amid widespread snow in the region, The Canberra Times reported on this day 65 years ago in the midst of the atomic age.
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The Brindabella Ranges recorded the heaviest snow for three years on the third consecutive day of wild weather, while the worst blizzards in the Southern Alps for a decade meant two ambulances, a snowplough, a tractor and two bulldozers were needed to bring a seriously injured worker from Tumut to Cooma.
A flying sheet of corrugated iron cut the power at the Mt Stromlo observatory settlement after it was picked up in the wind, leaving the bachelor's quarters without a roof.
Locally, though, for all the tumult of the wild tempest only flakes of snow fell in Canberra, which the Times reported melting on contact with the ground.
Jasper Lindell
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
Jasper Lindell joined The Canberra Times in 2018. He is a Legislative Assembly reporter, covering ACT politics and government. He also writes about development, transport, heritage, local history, literature and the arts, as well as contributing to the Times' Panorama magazine. He was previously a Sunday Canberra Times reporter.
