A burst of wintry weather brought heavy snow and ice to the Blue Mountains and central ranges, causing major traffic snarls but also bringing delight for visitors.
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Barry Richard, the owner of Jenolan Cabins near the Kanangra Boyd National Park, said regions at 800 metres above sea level near him received their biggest snowfalls in years.
"The kids enjoy it but the novelty starts to wear off for older ones after a while," Mr Richard said.
His cabins received about 10 centimetres of snow.
The snowfalls were linked to a cold front that moved through the state on Thursday followed by a low-pressure trough, said Rob Sharpe, a meteorologist with Weatherzone.
''That's brought showers with it but because the air is so cold, the showers have fallen as snow across the higher areas of the central tablelands and even the northern tablelands,'' Mr Sharpe said.
The state's main ski resorts have added to their bumper season, with another 35-40 centimetres of snow falling at Perisher over Thursday and Friday, Mr Sharpe said.
Five strong frontal systems over the past month have dumped about two metres of snow on resorts in Victoria and NSW. Reports indicate sites such as Falls Creek now have their deepest snow depths in a quarter of a century.
Black ice caused by a thawing and refreezing of the snow on the roads triggered accidents and forced the temporary closure of parts of the Great Western Highway in the Blue Mountains, the Snowy Mountains Highway, the Mitchell Highway at Orange and other roads.
''Over the next couple of weeks, we're not going to see all that much snow,'' Mr Sharpe said. ''We're going to see a little more high pressure over southern Australia and when (fronts) do come through, they'll be weaker with less cold air associated with them.''
Sydney had its third coldest day of the year with a maximum of 15.9 degrees. Saturday and Sunday are likely to be 16-18 degrees at their warmest, with mostly sunny days of 18-22 degrees stretching out to next Friday, the bureau predicts.
''We'll probably crack the low 20s a few times'' in the next couple of weeks, Mr Sharpe said, adding the city will probably be ''not too far off'' last July's record average maximums for the month.
In July 2013, the average maximum was 19.5 degrees, or about 3.2 degrees above the long-run average for the city.
This month the average tops are about 18.5 degrees.
