A rare winter wonderland blanketed Tasmania, and residents couldn’t get enough

A rare event this week kept residents in northern Tasmania, Australia, up all night: snowflakes falling.

Kiani Chippendale, 26, told CNN she’d never seen snow in the city of Launceston.

“We stayed up all night, too excited to sleep!” she said. “Very rare. It’s never snowed here in the city that I know of … not in my lifetime, anyway.”

The city saw its most significant snowfall this week since the early 1970s, according to Australian Broadcasting Corporation.

“We were all shocked and excited to see the snow. The kids couldn’t wait to get out and play in it,” another resident, Stacey Baker, told CNN. “Such a beautiful surprise for such a tough year for many.”

The precipitation came right on time: Tasmania just had its second driest July on record after 1957, according to the Bureau of Meteorology, Tasmania.

“#Launceston airport this morning covered in #snow. It is currently 2.4°C,” the bureau tweeted. “The airport has had 41mm of rainfall since 9am yesterday, some of which fell as snow as the cold southerly air pushed across. The airport is at 150m above sea level.”