WINTER has arrived in Bombala with a vengeance with the mercury dropping to -6.3 degrees at 7.30am on Monday.
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But according to the Bureau of Meteorology’s official weather site it felt more like -10.4 degrees.
At 7am on Monday the temperature at Merimbula Airport was -0.5 degrees, while Bega it dropped to a chilly -4 degrees.
Records were broken in Batemans Bay with -2.3 degrees.
Rex Airline’s 7am flight from Merimbula to Moruya was held up because of frost and ice.
Bombala recorded -6 degrees at 7am on Sunday but the BoM said it felt more like -10.4 degrees.
Yesterday, the minimum dropped to -5.7 degrees at 6am but the BoM said it felt more like -10.9 degrees.
Meanwhile, Bombala Rural Fire Service attended their first fire of the season on Thursday when they assisted NSW Forestry Corporation at Coolangubra State Forest.
A spokesperson from Forestry Corporation NSW said that the fire started from two small fires rekindled.
“Despite recent snowfall, high winds from noon on Thursday cause two areas of Coolangubra State Forest that had been burnt during autumn to rekindle,” she said.
“While the flame height was very low, the wind caused flames to quickly spread along the forest floor.
“Containment lines have now been established around the fires and Forestry Corporation will continue monitoring the area.”
More than 90 hectares of State Forest burnt during the blaze and NSW Forestry said it is still too early to tell the extent of the damage done to reforestation projects in the area.
“The larger fire affected 70 hectares of fallow area that was scheduled to be planted next year,” the spokesperson said.
“Most of the area affected by the smaller fire was planted with seedlings only a few weeks ago, but it is too early to say whether these trees will need to be replaced.
“Often there is a bare area around the seedlings and past experience suggests that a lot of seedlings may survive, depending how close the flames came.
Bombala RFS district officer Danny Barker said that the crew faced windy conditions but the fire was contained quickly.
“The strong wind picked up and what was a small fire soon took hold,” Mr Barker said.
“The first was quickly contained by Forestry and RFS crews.”
Mr Barker said Bombala RFS are expecting a dry summer and have been made preparations all winter to ahead of the season.
“We do a lot of planning in winter, we maintain our vehicles and equipment,” he said.
“We also make sure all the fire trails are clear, which will need to be done again after this week.”