Icy blast to hit southern Australia

Gale force winds and blizzard conditions are bearing down on southern Australia with anticipation of widespread property damage.
Severe weather warnings have been issued for South Australia, Victoria and the ACT with winds of up to 80km/h and peak gusts of up to 120km/h.
The Bureau of Meteorology says the gales will hit parts of Victoria's southwest, northeast, north central, Wimmera, and west, east and south Gippsland regions.
"This is likely to be the most significant wind event we've seen in about 12 months, since about June last year," said senior forecaster Kevin Parkyn.
"We'll only know the true impact once we wake up tomorrow morning."
The cold front will be accompanied by rain and 10mm is expected to fall across the state, Mr Parkyn said.
"Tuesday is going to be a particularly cold and blustery, wintry day," he said.
"It will struggle to reach 10 degrees in many parts of the state and we've got local hail and thunder on the forecast as well."
The bureau is warning sheep graziers of a high risk of losses of lamb and sheep exposed to such conditions.
In South Australia a weather warning was issued for damaging winds in the Mount Lofty Ranges, Kangaroo Island, lower southeast and parts of the mid-north, Murraylands and upper southeast districts.
"A significant cold front is moving across the Bight and is expected to reach Kangaroo Island late this afternoon and sweep across central and eastern SA this evening," the bureau said.
The Victorian State Emergency Service has 5500 volunteers on standby, with deputy director of operations Tim Wiebusch predicting fallen trees and branches and dislodged roofs.
"We will see trees coming down, we will see debris across our roads and we're most likely to see roofs in different parts of our state being dislodged," Mr Wiebusch said.
The ACT and southern NSW are bracing for blizzard conditions and destructive winds are forecast for parts of the Southern Tablelands and Snowy Mountains.
But not everybody is upset with the wintry blast.
At Falls Creek, in the Victorian Alps, the deep low pressure system is expected to bring heavy snowfalls.
"We are expecting the best storm yet this season with serious snow forecast over the next few days," said Falls Creek spokeswoman Debbie Howie.
"It's pretty wintry on the mountain, this weather pattern is giving us just what we need."