A rare snowstorm has blanketed parts of Australia with more snow than the area had seen since the mid 1980s, resulting in widespread power outages, flood warnings, and at least one missing person, The Independent reported. 

"What makes this event unusual is how much snow we had, but also how widespread, covering quite a large part of the Northern Tablelands," said Miriam Bradbury, a meteorologist at Australia's Bureau of Meteorology, per the Independent. 

What's happening?

Parts of New South Wales, on the Australian east coast, received as much as 16 inches of snow over the first weekend of August, marking the region's heaviest snowfall in roughly four decades, according to Reuters.

Meanwhile, neighboring Queensland received its first reported snowfall in 10 years. 

The snow, coupled with high winds, left roughly 100 cars stranded and at least 27,500 people without power, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported.

Ian Robinson, superintendent of the State Emergency Service, said that some areas had been "absolutely smashed" by wind and rain, per the ABC.

"A number of roofs are off in that area as well," Robinson said, according to the ABC.

Experts issued several flood warnings and cautioned individuals about driving under the conditions. 

"It's so risky, unless you've actually got snow chains, even a dusting of snow can hide the ice underneath," warned Robinson, as quoted by the ABC. "Before you know it, you're sliding and you're not in control of your vehicle."

A search remained ongoing for a 20-year-old woman whose vehicle had gotten stuck before she was swept away in floodwaters, The Independent reported. 

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While experts said that the magnitude of the snow was extremely rare, events of this intensity had occurred before in Australian history, per The Independent. 

Why is unusual Australian snowfall important?

Understandably, when most people think of rising global temperatures, they think first of things like heat waves and wildfires, not necessarily historic snowfall. 

However, for decades, scientists have warned that rising global temperatures will make extreme weather events more severe, resulting in more precipitation per hour, whether that be in the form of rain or snow. 

Warmer air can hold significantly more moisture than cooler air, and warmer air also causes more evaporation from bodies of water like lakes and oceans. When that moisture eventually falls back to the earth, it does so in the form of more intense rain and snowstorms. 

While rising temperatures have resulted in lower snowfall in many places, in some areas, warmer weather has counterintuitively led to greater snowfall.

For example, in the Great Lakes Region of the U.S., warmer temperatures mean that the lakes remain unfrozen for longer periods of time, allowing more water to evaporate off the lakes, according to the EPA. 

When air temperatures remain below freezing, that evaporated lake water falls on the surrounding areas as snow, leading to increased snowfall tallies for the region.

Whether it falls as rain or snow, more precipitation per hour means more flash floods, power outages, and property damage, including destroyed food crops. These natural disasters take lives and destroy livelihoods, having dramatic impacts that are felt well beyond the affected areas in the form of higher insurance premiums and food prices.   

What's being done about unusual Australian snowfall?

In the immediate term, the best way for households and communities to protect themselves from extreme weather events is to invest in infrastructure improvements that will make lives and property less vulnerable to things like flash floods and high winds. 

However, over the long term, the only way to reverse the trend of rising global temperatures and more-severe extreme-weather events is to significantly reduce the amount of heat-trapping pollution entering the atmosphere. 

This can be accomplished in ways large and small, from supporting political candidates who share your policy priorities to taking local action to driving an EV. 

Installing solar panels on your home is a great way to maximize the environmental benefits and cost savings of driving an EV. Further, pairing solar panels with a home battery system will make your home more resilient in the event of power outages like those that affected tens of thousands of homes in Australia. 

EnergySage makes it easy to compare quotes from vetted local installers while also taking maximum advantage of tax rebates and other incentives, saving customers up to $10,000 in the process. 

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