Snowy Mountains' cold snap sees bumper problems, snow as travellers mob ski fields

Cold snaps have seen more than half of July's average precipitation across the Snowys since Thursday, according to Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Shuang Wang.

Ms Wang said there had been about 131 millimetres of precipitation recorded in the region between Thursday and Monday mornings.

She said this could be snow or sleet, with a millimetre of rain roughly equalling one centimetre of snow.

"For the next few days there's still a good chance of more," Ms Wang said.

Perisher resort said it had seen over one metre of snow in seven days, including an additional 20 centimetres overnight, thanks to non-stop blizzard conditions.

Likewise, Thredbo had seen 85 centimetres of snow since Thursday morning and expected more as the cold weather continued.

Hundreds of people at the ski fields decided to hike up the mountains on Sunday as heavy winds shut the chairlifts.

Ms Wang said the bureau recorded "vigorous winds" over 100km/h about 5pm on Sunday afternoon.

The NRMA saw 55 calls for roadside assistance to the Snowy Mountains region this weekend, compared to only 36 call outs the weekend before.

Jindabyne saw the majority of call outs, 24, with 11 calls from Kosciuszko National Park, six in Perisher Valley and four in Thredbo.

The main reason for call outs was people finding themselves locked out of their car, followed by bad batteries, bad alternators, engine light or noise and frozen diesel fuel respectively.

NRMA Canberra patrol team leader Terry Smith warned an all-wheel-drive wasn't the same as a four-wheel-drive.

Four-wheel-drive vehicles are the only cars exempt from carrying chains to the ski fields in Kosciuszko.

Mr Smith said AWD vehicles acted as front-wheel-drives, as in the two front wheels were relied on for a lot of the control and traction.

The car's computer only reacts in the AWD when it is too late.

"Something has to go wrong for the car to react. In a 4WD you can lock it in 4WD," Mr Smith said.

He also said anti-lock brakes could make things worse. When they lock in snowy conditions, regular brakes make a small wedge of snow in front of the wheels helping slow it down.

But anti-lock brakes don't allow that wedge to form, meaning cars with anti-lock systems need more time to stop in the snow.

Another problem was diesel fuel freezing. He said Canberrans and anyone further south would be getting "alpine" diesel formulas which didn't freeze as easily, but Australians from warmer climates would not have that fuel.

Mr Smith said it would be smart for diesel drivers to refuel as they got closer to the snow fields.

Mr Smith's patrol region didn't include the Snowy Mountains region but went as far south as Ingalara Creek, just a short distance from Bredbo.

He said a lot of his call outs there were people running out of fuel, with outdated GPS data wrongly telling people there was fuel in Williamsdale, just near the NSW and ACT border.

Jindabyne Towing owner Kevin Smith warned people to slow down on the roads to the ski fields. He said 4WD users thought their cars could handle the conditions and drove too fast.

He said people also needed to check their car was a 4WD model, with some series having non-4WD models, like the Toyota Kluger.

Mr Smith said Subaru AWD users were his best customer but this weekend saw his first Tesla rescued.

Mr Smith said drivers needed to leave more space between the cars. But more importantly, non-4WD users needed to carry chains.

"You can't get 'em to put chains on. They just won't do it," Mr Smith said.

"Always drive to the conditions."