Australia Blasts Into Season With Up to 90cm of Powder in Huge Storm

• New Zealand’s Manganui Surprises With Early Opening After 50cm Snowfall
• Big Chill Coming: Andes Eye Major Snow to End Dry, Warm Spell
• Ski Lifts Spin in Three Continents as Southern Season Officially Begins
• Afriski Opens Against the Odds With Machine-Made Snow and Wild Weather

SOUTHERN HEMISPHERE INTRO

The Southern Hemisphere’s 2025 ski season got underway at the weekend. It’s not quite clear if ski areas in Australia, New Zealand, or indeed Lesotho’s Afriski were the first to get their lifts turning on a snowy slope or two, but by Saturday lunchtime, slopes were open in all three countries.
Australian resorts were the most obvious openers, with 75% of the country's ski areas opening at the weekend as a major snowstorm moved in — one of the biggest since 2022 — perfectly timed for the country's opening weekend. There was a big snowfall in New Zealand too, but most areas stuck to their plan of opening from this coming Friday, with nowhere opening early. However, the Manganui Ski Area, run by the Stratford Mountain Club — which aims to open whenever the snow is good enough — did get its lift running at the weekend after a 50cm (20") accumulation there. Lesotho's Afriski also appeared to start offering snowsports on a short slope of machine-made snow, if social media video posts are current.
It's less good news for the Andes though, with nowhere open for skiing yet after a prolonged spell of warm, dry weather following some good dumps last month. On the plus side, the forecast is increasingly positive for some significant snowfall and more wintry weather later this week and into next for ski areas in Argentina and Chile.

AUSTRALIA REPORT

Most Australian ski areas opened at the weekend, and it has been a dream start to the season after the mostly dry end to May and the start of June, as a major 'polar blast' moving up from the Antarctic brought a four-day storm which delivered up to 90cm (three feet) of snowfall to the country’s slopes. It’s one of the biggest storms of the 2020s, and the timing was excellent. Ski areas went from opening on Saturday morning with little or no main runs open to deep powder conditions by Sunday. Falls Creek (40/55cm / 16/22”), which opened on Sunday, began with their Halley’s Comet, Towers, and Mouse Trap open and said more terrain will be opening soon. Speaking on Monday morning, with the snow still falling, Betony Pitcher, the resort’s Marketing Manager, said, “We’ve had over 60cm of snow this week; it’s been a fantastic opening weekend to start the season.” The country’s largest resort, Perisher (50/65cm / 20/26”), also opened. Despite the good snow news, it is still early season, and most resorts are posting between 5–10% of their terrain open so far. Mt Buller, Thredbo, Corin Forest, and Hotham have also opened. Charlotte Pass and Selwyn Resort plan to open from the 21st.

AUSTRALIA FORECAST

It will stay dry and sunny over the next few days, with overnight lows cold enough for snowmaking and daytime highs only a little above freezing. There are signs of more snowfall likely from the weekend. Alex Pankiw, Hotham Marketing Coordinator, predicts: “There’s cold temps in the week, and another storm front is rolling in over the weekend. Skiers and boarders are in for a treat with some steeper terrain open and fresh snow for powder turns.”

NEW ZEALAND REPORT

New Zealand’s season got underway at short notice on Saturday, with Manganui Ski Area, run by the Stratford Mountain Club, reporting it had opened for the 2025 season after about 40–50cm (16–20”) of snow fell on the Plateau. This initially closed the centre’s access road, but it was not long before the Club reported it was, “Open! It is cold and a little moist up here but there is a full cover. Visibility comes and goes. …T-bar and learner tow operating. Road open.” The snowfall Manganui reported was widespread across the country as more wintry weekend weather arrived. Mt Hutt, which originally planned to open a fortnight early on the 31st of May, then postponed to 7th June, and has most recently postponed again to this coming weekend — when it had originally planned to open — guesstimated it had had 90cm (36”) of snowfall on the morning of the 7th.
Other ski areas planning to open this coming weekend from Friday are Coronet Peak, Cardrona, and The Remarkables. Cardrona says that their McDougall's Chondola and Learner Conveyors lifts will be spinning to access McDougall's trail and the Beginners' Area. In addition, there will be a few early-season features at McPark. Elsewhere, Whakapapa on Mt Ruapehu continues to offer snow play on its all-weather snowmaking machine-maintained terrain at its Happy Valley terrain. Porters also offers snow play — in its case on the freshly fallen natural snowfall — on Sunday.
The weather warmed up a little from Monday, with Manganui closing again, blaming rain, but it is still largely subzero overnight with daytime highs of +5 to +7°C, and there have been further light snow showers, especially now on the North Island.

NEW ZEALAND FORECAST

Mostly dry, sunny weather with temperatures continuing in the -6 to +6°C range on the South Island, with currently no major change in the short-term forecast. More unsettled with further snow showers on the North Island.

ARGENTINA REPORT

Several ski areas in Argentina have announced either that they're open but don't have enough snow to ski on yet, or that they're delaying opening for the same reason. Cerro Bayo and the continent's largest area, Cerro Catedral near Bariloche, fall into the first category, and southerly Las Leñas the latter. Unfortunately, it's all very different from the exceptionally snowy start to winter 2024. Some centres had already been open almost a month by this point a year ago thanks to the huge early snowfall. There have been some good snowfalls over the past six weeks, but there's also been a lot of dry, sunny weather and freezing nights countered by warm afternoons — and that has continued over the past week.

ARGENTINA FORECAST

There are now some positive signs of improving conditions, with temperatures expected to fall and snow showers — some of them heavy — beginning to move in through the latter half of this week. Hopefully, it’s the boost that’s needed to get the season started.

CHILE REPORT

Ski areas in Chile are also on hold until conditions improve, with some reporting afternoon temperatures on their slopes getting as high as +20°C over the past few days. That’s the most extreme, though, with several centres — including El Colorado — showing top-to-bottom snow cover (albeit clearly thin) and snow guns blasting out on its webcams. There is hope that the first areas will open this weekend, but nowhere has confirmed they will as yet.

CHILE FORECAST

It’s looking much more promising for the latter half of this week and the start of next, with subzero temperatures and increasingly heavy snowfall forecast. Portillo's season is expected to kick off the weekend after next.

LESOTHO REPORT

It’s difficult to be sure about the status of Afriski’s slope, as they no longer have a webcam or a snow report and make ambiguous social media posts. However, some images and video posted at the weekend seemed to be from 2025 and showed snow production in a relatively small area — but enough to be skied on — so it does appear snowsports are now possible! After a few good pre-season snowfalls — the most recent a few centimetres about a month ago — it’s been largely dry and often warm in the daytime in Lesotho’s Maloti Mountains, making snowmaking seem problematic, so hats off to the Afriski team for getting enough snow on the ground to ski upon. Things took a dramatic change on Monday, with bad weather leading the centre to advise people not to travel there; the warning was repeated on Tuesday.

LESOTHO FORECAST

Sunny conditions are expected to return for the remainder of this week, with temperatures in the -5°C to +8°C range.