From the early hours of yesterday morning, residents began posting photographs of the snowfall on social media, many having seen it for the first time.

While a maximum of three was predicted, the mercury struggled to get higher than 2 degrees with 6.6mm of rain recorded from 9am to 4pm.

The thrill of the snowfall however was marred by police and Cabonne Council workers called to the gates on Mount Canobolas after a vandal used bolt cutters to open the gate, which was closed by council on Friday afternoon due to the treacherous conditions.

With energy consumption expected to spike following the weekend’s cold snap that is expected to continue over the next couple of days, a spokesperson for Essential Energy said the most efficient way to heat your residence is to keep the temperature between 18 and 20 degrees.

Orange’s last energy spike according to the provider was between June 2 and 5 when temperatures dropped to as low as minus five degrees Celsius.

The State Emergency Services (SES) volunteers received their first call out at 6am yesterday to remove a tree that had fallen across a driveway in Regency Place.

Several subsequent calls were received after trees and branches fell in the Pinnacle Road and Canobolas Road area, with three trees reported down in Wallace Lane late yesterday morning.

Orange City SES controller Kim Stevens said the trees had fallen as a result of the high winds on Saturday night and weight of the snow.

Today’s weather is expected to be windy with showers with a 90 per cent chance of rain.

That rain is expected to continue all week and combined with the low morning temperatures as low as minus three on Wednesday police say motorists are warned to slow down because of the potential for black ice.

“We are very fortunate that so far we have had no motor vehicle accidents so we would urge drivers to keep doing the right thing and slow down to drive to the conditions,” Inspector Peter Atkins of Orange police said.

He said police inquiries into who may be responsible for damaging and driving through the safety gate at Mt Canobolas will continue.

Orange historian Ross Maroney said he recalls snow falling so heavily in Orange back in the 1960s graders had to be used to clear Summer Street.

“The small schools would be closed, and snow would lie around for a weeks.

“It’s interesting that I often hear older residents saying it doesn’t snow like it used to in Orange, but this is the heaviest we’ve had for a while,” he said.

Weather experts say the rare conditions that prevailed on Saturday night producing a “thundersnow” in Orange was the coming together of a tropical style storm with thunder and lightning and a cold front with snow caused by an Arctic vortex.

For information on road closures call 13 27 01 and not Orange police. For State Emergency Services assistance call 13 25 00.