Despite temperatures in the North-West failing to exceed two degrees until well after noon, the snow was enough to lure even the most faint-hearted outside. 

The weather even prompted one Chudleigh home to erect a Santa Claus, well before even the most enthusiastic department chain store would dare to display Christmas decorations.

With a number of schools closed statewide, parents gave their children the chance to experience the snow.  

Hagley resident Ashlee Gibson said her children were relishing the chance to play in the heaviest snowfall she had seen for more than a decade. 

‘‘The kids are meant to be at school today but I rang up and said ‘snow day – not happening’,’’ she said.

‘‘Harley was a bit scared at first, but Cooper was just excited – he was over the moon.

‘‘We have a shack at Cradle Mountain so we go to the snow quite often, but to have it here is pretty cool.’’ 

Snowmen were abundant at Deloraine, where locals sculpted lifesize figures from snow collected off their car windscreens.

Resident Jill Saddington was the line manager of a particularly impressive structure.

‘‘We’ve been out here all morning, it’s taken us three hours to do the body,’’ she said.