Australia's 2024 Season Winding Down Fast

A month of warm weather which saw some record high winter temperatures across Australia has led to half of the country's ski areas being forced to close early for their 2024 seasons. The remainder have greatly diminished terrain left open.

For Mt Baw Baw and Mt Buller, today is the last day of the season whilst Selwyn Resort, which had already closed last week due to snow shortages but said at the time that it hoped to re-open if conditions improve, now says it won't be doing.

Conditions are supposed to improve over the next few days as an Antarctic front brings a 10 degree temperature drop and some snowfall over the next few days, but the respite from the warm sunny weather (which is also initially bringing strong winds and heavy rainfall) is expected to be short lived. Hotham says it will end its season this Wednesday, 4th September, but is hoping the final days will be powdery ones after the storm. Explaining the closure decision, a resort spokesperson said.

"The damage to the snowpack and forecast weather over the next week have driven this decision for the safety of our guests, staff and the environment. We fought hard this season to bring you the best conditions we could given the conditions and had some great days out there."

Falls Creek, Perisher and Thredbo as well as Charlotte Pass remain open although their base depths have greatly diminished, as has the amount of terrain each still has open.

Australian ski areas usually stay open to late September or early October in average or good winters.