Lofty Ranges; Eudunda; Kapunda; Mount GambierSharp August cold snap brings snow, severe frost and near-freezing temperatures across South Australia
Date
27 August 1906
Summary / Overview
A brief but intense cold spell affected South Australia in late August 1906, bringing snow to the Mount Lofty Ranges and Eudunda, severe frosts in the Mid North, and exceptionally low temperatures in Adelaide and Mount Gambier. Snow began around 6:30 a.m. on 27 August across the Mount Lofty Ranges, with heavier falls covering vegetation, roofs and surrounding countryside. Eudunda also experienced snow, followed by its heaviest frost of the winter. Frost was sufficiently severe around Eudunda to be blamed for a train derailment. In Adelaide, the temperature fell to 36.1°F (2.3°C), the lowest recorded there that year, while the afternoon temperature reached only 43°F (6.1°C). Mount Gambier experienced several days of intense cold, wet and windy weather, with one report recording an early-morning temperature of 26.5°F (-3.1°C). The event followed the much heavier Mount Lofty snowfall of August 1905, with contemporary reports explicitly noting that the 1906 snowfall was less substantial.
Meteorological data recorded at the time
Adelaide, 27 Aug: 3 p.m. 43°F (6.1°C); 9 p.m. 41°F (5.0°C); overnight minimum 36.1°F (2.3°C), lowest recorded in Adelaide in 1906. Contemporary comparison: only five occasions in the previous 49 years had recorded <35°F (1.7°C); coldest August night cited was 17 Aug 1859 at 32.3°F (0.2°C).
Mount Gambier: Border Watch reported early-morning 26.5°F (-3.1°C) and 9 a.m. 38.5°F (3.6°C) on 27 Aug. Another contemporary report gives 36.5°F (2.5°C) and describes it as the lowest for 15 years; this conflicts with the Border Watch reading and should be treated cautiously.
Snow: Mount Lofty/Aldgate – multiple falls from about 6:30–8 a.m. on 27 Aug; Eudunda – approximately 20-minute snowfall. Frost: Eudunda experienced its heaviest frost of the winter on 28 Aug.
Historical descriptions / observations
The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Mon 27 Aug 1906: ‘Sunday night was exceedingly cold, even on the plains, and people living in the hills districts retired to bed in full expectation of seeing the mountain slopes and crests snow-clad in the morning. There is a peculiar keenness in the air prior to a snowfall, so that residents on the high levels usually are able fairly accurately to forecast a fall. Those who expected to see snow on the Mount Lofty Ranges on Monday morning were not disappointed. Shortly after halt past 6 o’clock the feather-like flakes began to descend, and by 7 o’clock a large area of country bore a mantle of white. Then in places the fall ceased, but it began again about 7.30, and for half an hour there was a steady shower of snowflakes. Trees, housetops, bushes, and everything else carried snow, and the blending of the white with the varied tints of the foliage made a picture most beautiful to gaze upon…Our Aldgate correspondent wrote on. Monday morning: “A beautiful fall of snow occurred here early this morning. A slight fall took place about 6.30, and shortly after 7 o’clock there was a heavy one, which lasted about half an hour. It was sufficient to settle thickly on the grass, bushes, fences, and roofs of houses.”’
The Advertiser (Adelaide) Wed 29 Aug 1906: ‘A remarkable fall of snow occurred along the whole of the southern slope of the Dividing Range last night. At Ballarat it was the heaviest experienced for 40 years. Business there is partly interrupted, and all telephone and telegraph lines are down. The surrounding country bore a heavy mantle of white, and presented a picturesque spectacle. Owing to the snow lying thickly on the railway line the Adelaide express was unable to run on time, and for the convenience of local passengers a special train was run from Ballarat to Melbourne’.
The Register (Adelaide) Wed 29 Aug 1906: ‘Kapunda. August 28. The running of the trains from Kapunda today has been dislocated, by reason of the train from Morgan leaving the rails about four miles on the Kapunda side of Eudunda. It is understood it left the rails a second time, and the mishap is attributed to the effect of the hard frost on the rails’. The Register (Adelaide) Wed 29 Aug 1906: ‘Mount Gambier, August 27. This morning [28 August] the thermometer at the telegraph office was down to 36.5 Fahr., which is said to be the lowest for 15 years’.
Border Watch (Mount Gambier) Wed 29 Aug 1906: ‘The district has again been experiencing a severe turn of rough weather. It has been unquestionably wet and windy since Wednesday last, but the special feature of the weather has been the intense coldness of the last four days. On Saturday, Sunday, and Monday [26–28 August] the wind blew from the south and south-east, as keenly cold as if over icebergs. Sunday and Monday [27–28 August] were easily the coldest days of the year to date; and on Monday forenoon, with the south-east wind blowing, the thermometer at the Telegraph-office descended to 26.5 F. early in the morning and 38.5° at 9 o’clock. It was very cold yesterday also, but the showers had become fewer, the sun shone freely at times, and the temperature was much milder than on Monday’.
The Express and Telegraph (Adelaide) Wed 29 Aug 1906: ‘During the past few days the weather has been the chief topic of conversation, as the brief snap of extreme cold was severely felt by many. The temperature on Monday at 3 p.m. was 43 deg., and at 9 p.m. 41 deg., while at night it fell to 36.1 deg.—the lowest registered this year. On only five occasions during the past 49 years has a temperature of under 35 deg. been recorded. The coldest August night was recorded in 1859 (the 17th), when the thermometer registered 32.3 degrees. The coldest night on record for Adelaide was July 11, 1903; when the temperature was 32.2 deg. The mean temperature recorded shows that July is the coldest month of the year in Adelaide, although phenomenal weather was experienced on several days during last month, and on the 11th the highest shade reading was 74 deg.—which is the highest recorded in the city for July. The temperature on Monday afternoon was lower than on August 29 of last year, when there was a much heavier fall of snow on the ranges, than has occurred this week’. The Register (Adelaide) Thu 30 Aug 1906: ‘Eudunda. August 28. Yesterday, between 11 and 1 o’clock, we had a fall of snow, which continued for about 20 minutes. The school children had a jolly time, chasing the flakes as they fell. The weather is bitterly cold. A severe frost, the heaviest for the winter, was experienced this morning’.
Source
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