SNOWBOUND: Traffic stuck in snow at BLackheath.
ABANDONED cars littered the road amid the carnage of traffic crawling down the mountains to Sydney yesterday Orange orchardist Guy Gaeta said.
Mr Gaeta described the scene as a mess of frustrated, bored and desperate drivers as they made their way through the snow. Mr Gaeta left Orange at 8.30am. By 1.30pm he had made it to Blackheath. He was distraught when he realised he may loose thousands of dollars worth of fruit.
“It’s carnage and a mess of thousands of trucks and cars,” he said.
“Kilometres and kilometres ahead of me are banked up traffic.”
He said at 3pm the State Emergency Service (SES) told him he might get through in the next hour.
“It’s a disgrace,” he said.
“They used to have graders at Mount Vic [Mount Victoria] and at Mount Lambie and they don’t anymore.”
Bureau of Metrology meteorologist Julie Evans said the cold snap was caused by an east coast low pressure system coming through the region. The last time it snowed in Orange in October was 2008.
Dr Evans said the cold snap was unusual but did not discount another one in the near future.
“You never say never in our business,” she said.
In November in 2008 the central west received five to ten centimetres of snow.
Dr Evans said residents might not need the gloves, scarves, overcoats and ugg boots over the weekend but she did warn of a severe frost.
“It’s looking pretty good for the weekend,” she said.
According to the Bureau, the minimum temperature yesterday was 0.1 degrees. Surprisingly, it was not close to the lowest temperature for October. That was on the first when it got to minus 2.6 degrees.
The temperature today is expected to reach 13 degrees, with a shower or two this afternoon. Sunday is looking slightly better with a top of 17.
Last Friday it was 25 degrees.