Dozens of flights cancelled as winter blast hits Sydney

Dozens of flights in and out of Sydney have been cancelled as wild weather hits NSW, with snow blanketing ski resorts and huge surf forecast for the coast.

A chill has set in following an overnight storm, and temperatures are expected to be below average for March in much of NSW.

“Possible blizzard conditions” in alpine parts of the state’s south are also possible on Friday, but are expected to ease into the weekend as the vigorous low-pressure system driving the wild weather moves offshore.

Ten to 20 centimetres of snow fell in the Perisher Valley in the 12 hours to 10am on Friday.

Snow was also falling at Thredbo in the Snowy Mountains, but temperature data was not available from the Bureau of Meteorology.

It was snowing in the Central West on Friday morning.

“We’ve got a bit of snow falling at the moment, intermixed with the rain, but it’s unusual to see, in beautiful Orange, snow this early in the year,” caller Jeff told 2GB.

Temperatures in Orange were just above freezing, but the apparent – or “feels like” – temperature plunged as low as minus 6.6 degrees.

Sydney is heading for a top of 21 degrees, with a low of 13, but the apparent temperature is considerably lower.

The wild weather began on Thursday afternoon, when a storm whipped through Sydney, downing trees and prompting hundreds of calls for assistance.

The storm disrupted public transport and flights in and out of Sydney.

Dozens of flights have been cancelled or delayed on Friday “due to storm activity”.

“We encourage passengers to check with their airline regarding the status of their flight,” a Sydney Airport spokesperson said.

At least 50 domestic flights scheduled to land had been cancelled by 10.30am, and 40 planned departures were also grounded.

Meanwhile, conditions on Sydney’s beaches are expected to deteriorate on Friday afternoon and into Saturday, with southerly swells up to 10 metres predicted in some parts.

Some surfers sought to take advantage at Maroubra in the city’s eastern suburbs.

Others paddling out on the northern beaches had their sessions cut short after a shark sighting forced the closure of North Steyne beach about 8.45am. It is the same beach where South Coast musician Andre de Ruyter was attacked in January during a spate of shark attacks following severe weather.

The wild weather also prevented shark management measures, including drumlines, from being placed in the water on Friday.

Police urged people planning on hitting the water to “reconsider it”, warning of high risk due to the unpredictable swells.

Waves were whipped up on Thursday, and surfers took to Cape Solander, off Kurnell in Sydney’s south, where videographer Jye Zap captured the “heavy slabs”.

The NSW SES responded to 370 incidents around the state from 3pm on Thursday, with 215 in Sydney.

SES intelligence and warning officer David Pedersen said about a quarter of those calls came from around the city’s northern beaches and were mostly for downed trees, with no reports of flooding.

More than 1800 Ausgrid customers remained without power on Friday morning after the storm knocked out electricity, primarily on the northern beaches and Central Coast.

On the Endeavour Energy network, covering parts of western Sydney, the Southern Highlands, Illawarra and South Coast regions, 664 customers remained without power due to unplanned outages.

The storm drenched Four Pines Park at Brookvale on Thursday night and knocked out power ahead of the NRL match between the Manly Sea Eagles and Sydney Roosters, but the match went ahead when conditions cleared.

Chaos on public transport followed as commuters faced major delays on metro and train services from the storm that hit during peak hour.

Services had mostly returned to normal on Friday morning.

Severe winds kicked up a dust storm and partially collapsed a crane on a building site in Dubbo on Thursday afternoon.

Into the weekend, damaging surf, large powerful seas and gale force winds are expected along Sydney’s coastline, stretching north to the Mid North Coast and south to Victoria.

“The weather event which is driving those severe storms is going to continue into Friday,” the Bureau of Meteorology’s Angus Hines said.

“Even though that initial band of wet weather … will move offshore, we’re not done with what’s going on.”

Winds could reach up to 110km/h in parts of NSW, which could bring down trees and damage properties, Hines warned.

Meanwhile, a total fire ban is in place in the north of the state in the New England and Northern Slopes regions amid high to extreme fire danger.

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