Bluff Knoll gets first snow fall of the season with ‘light dusting’ in the Great Southern

Young hiker Ben Hedzik braved freezing conditions and hiked to Bluff Knoll’s peak after it was dusted in snow overnight.

The 18-year-old was wearing seven layers of clothing before he conquered the 1099m peak amid talk of potential snowfall on Sunday night.

Mr Hedzik — with his two mates Izack D’Andrea and Alex Loose — started his two-hour journey to the peak about 8.30pm.

“(Once we made it to the top) we were sitting behind a rock, and we each had a head torch, and you could see all the snow coming over the top there as we sat down and had a rest at the top,” he said.

“We’d actually gone there the week before, it was much windier then, and we went up to see snow, but we didn’t see anything and we thought, you know, we will come down to give it one last crack.”

Mr Hedzik, who drove down from Perth in the days prior, had his first glimpse of snow about half way up Bluff Knoll, about 500-600m above sea level.

“I remember about halfway, it was little, tiny specks, you would probably call it sleet or ice. . . we knew it was probably going to be snowing at the top, so we pushed on,” he said.

“I actually got some handfuls of snow and brought some back to friends as a joke.

“Obviously it’s just water now.

“As we were leaving, we were getting cold, but the snow was collecting on all the signs — one of the signs we just wiped it fully clean.”

The trio reached the peak about 10.30pm before they ventured back down, meeting other keen hikers on the way back to ground.

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jessica Lingard said “some brave intrepid travellers” travelled to the peak, which she said copped a “light dusting”.

“There were reports as early as about 10.30pm last night of some snow falling and even some reports of snow falling as low as about halfway down the peak,” she said.

“If it were a nice big mountain that got actual snow, we would be talking about it in . . . centimetres of snow, but for places like Bluff Knoll it’s just a light dusting.

“There’s not enough there to quantify a depth, unfortunately.”

Ms Lingard said early winds on Monday had created a “chill factor” for residents across WA.

“Through parts of the Great Southern, South West, along the south coast, even all the way out to the Goldfields this morning, there’s about a five to six degree difference between the air temperature and the feels like temperature at the time.”

Perth Airport dipped to a chilly 2.2C at 6.16am on Monday, with the Swan Valley recording 1.7C.

Around the State, Bunbury woke to a cold 1.8C morning, with Collie experiencing a low of 0.5C, and Wandering 1.1C.

PERTH WEATHER FORECAST

Tuesday: Showers, 16C

Wednesday: Showers, 18C

Thursday: Showers easing, 14C

Friday: Partly cloudy, 16C

Saturday: Possible shower, 16C

Sunday: Showers, 17C