Why does it not snow in Australia?

Answer 1

The humidity in Antarctica is about five percent -- arid, a desert.

Blowing ice crystals circulate with the constant winds on the continent, but with such a low humidity, there is no moisture to be used as a base for forming snow flakes.

You may wonder how the ice sheet grew to its thickness without snow. The answer is that the little humidity on the continent has been building over the millennia so that it is as thick as it is -- nearly two miles thick at the South Pole.

What snow does occur falls on the peninsula, rather like snow falling on the coast of Florida -- while the continent is as large as USA and Mexico combined.

A:Snow does fall in Antarctica, but very little.

The average over the whole continent is around 166 mm (6.5 inches) per year. The high interior gets very little rainfall (50 mm or 2 inches), but parts of the Antarctic Peninsula receive more than 600 mm (2 feet).

Answer 2

It does snow in Australia. Admittedly, there is less snow than there is in many other countries, such as those in Europe. But it is incorrect to say that it does not snow in Australia.

In Winter, beginning from early June (depending on the year), there are excellent snowfalls for skiing in the Kosciuszko National Park, particularly the Snowy Mountains region of southeastern New South Wales and northeastern Victoria. Similarly, the are good snowfalls in parts of Tasmania.

On occasion, snow has also been known to falls in southwest Western Australia, southeast South Australia, the highlands of Tasmania, Victoria, NSW (e.g. Blue Mountains to Orange) and even southern Queensland on the border around Stanthorpe, in the area own as the Granite Belt. Of Australia's major cities, Canberra is the most likely to receive snow, followed by Hobart, but these falls are usually very light.