Mount Donna Buang snow cover reports May-Sept 2024: Warburton VIC

We don't have a snowcam on top of Mt Donna Buang (summit 1250m) - and use resources like Britannia Creek Weather Station for local weather (Yarra Junction - 15 mins from Warburton).  This page answers most FAQs.

Spring 2024    Please always be careful, patient and kind on the mountain. Check our local resources below to help you find the snow on Mt Donna. The snowforecast link below has proved very accurate over the 10 years we have been monitoring and usually more accurate than local reports where no one has yet been up the mountain! Also see our driving in snow tips below.

Check for road open advice. Use our Facebook page to post your pics if you have any from the valley looking up at the mountain, or when access is safe you have pictures from Mt Donna. Use the 12 local resources and top FAQs on this page for access and our general notes for driving in snow. Stay safe and enjoy.  

Warburton snow page for local sources of information, toboggan sales, gloves since 2009. It is always dangerous to drive in freshly fallen snow if not properly prepared. Enthusiastic snow promotion should always make way for sensible, and conservative safety advice on the mountain. Until road conditions are advised safe and accessible on any given day, we suggest monitor all local sources for information (see below). Note conditions and °C can change quickly on a mountain, so thanks everyone for posting on WarburtonInfo Facebook which helps spread the word. Keep an eye out on all sources for information. DRIVE SAFE (see diving tips below).   Road clearing? Chains? Cost? Driving tips? Dogs? Don Road to Mt Donna Buang closed? See this info below under FAQs.

12 local reources, FAQs, useful links and snow driving tips below:

In winter we broadcast here the little 'tweet tweets' from the snow birds. As we always say "please all drivers exercise caution, and patience, when driving in snow conditions, and new visitors to the mountain or first time visitors in snow take extra care". Always watch out for icy and slippery spots on the road. See and share pictures on our WarburtonInfo Facebook of current conditions. 

Chains? See DRIVE SAFE AND SLOW IN THE SNOW info below on this page. There is no 100% advice regarding chains that will apply to all conditions, all vehicles, all drivers. Vehicle owners and drivers will always need to make a judgement about their vehicle and conditions. Remember snow needs cold and wet - and cold and wet on the summit. Take control of your snow updates and use the simple 3 step process to subscribe to Snowforecast.com email alerts for Mt Donna Buang. It's what everyone does and is a remarkably good indicator of snow. If no one has been up the mountain for a visual sighting everyone is playing guess work, and using same links and tools we network here. Help us help you and others. If you see snow post on WarburtonInfo Facebook.  Most seasons on Mt Donna see this page have 200 000+ visits in just a couple of months. BIG THANKS to everyone for sharing picture posts and updates     Be patient and considerate to other drivers. 

Warburtoninfo.com was the first to start online snow reporting from Mt Donna in 2009. Here are the top 12 most useful links and answers we have found. More FAQs and driving tips further below.

1. Parks VIC - updates and closure info
2. Dogs & other pets are not permitted in the National Park that Mt Donna Buang is in.
3. Snowforecast.com - their useful link here
4. Britannia Creek Weather Station - their useful link here
5. C505 road from Healesville is closed closes every winter - that includes 2024 winter.
6. Hot Jam Donuts - Fridays to Sundays until the end of August.
7. Cortella Homewares - Yarra Junction. A large range of winter gloves, beanies, socks and blankets and selected winter gear to buy.
8. Warburton Waterwheel Visitor Information phone 03 5966 9600. Usually open between 10am and 4pm daily.
9. Visitors are welcome to bring their own toboggans and snow toys to Mt Donna. See more FAQs below.
10. See our snow videos.
11. Snow season usually runs into September.  
12. How to get to Warburton?

Half way up Mt Donna the rainforest gallery is a simple stop and walk out on the viewing platform - or a short 200-300m walk around a truly living rainforest. At the very top - the tower at the summit delivers awesome views.

Add that to a stroll around the Yarra River in Warburton or one of the other things to do - and have a nice day out with friends and family.

How to get to Mt Donna Buang? Drive to Warburton on the Warburton Highway, stay on the Warburton highway through Warburton, go past the service station and IGA, past the Seventh Day Adventist Church, over a small bridge and head left at the Warburton Motel sign up the C507 Donna Buang Road. (Within 100m you'll see Yuonga Rd on the left - go past this - just stay on Donna Buang Road).

DRIVE SAFE AND SLOW IN THE SNOW!

'How to drive in snow'? A key component is 'maintain a slow, steady, even driving speed and aim to be as smooth as possible when braking, on corners, or when accelerating and braking. More tips here

There is no chains hire available in Warburton or on the mountain  - these are usually not needed once the road is graded but conditions can change quickly on the mountain. If you have chains bring them - if you don't - check local conditions before heading up and also drive to conditions.

• The Don Valley Road is closed in winter - so drive through Warburton and turn left at the Warburton Motel sign up Donna Buang.
• There is no cost to access Mt Donna Buang.
• Visitors are welcome to bring their own toboggans and snow toys. There is no requirement to hire on the mountain or buy locally, although they are both options.
• If it has snowed overnight, our constant reminder on this page is wait for the grader to go through - which usually happens mid morning. That process helps clear snow and ice and also removal of any fallen trees AND remember when snow is falling, be extra careful.
• Chains? Common sense is a really important ingredient :)  Not usually needed but a good idea to have. No business in Warburton supplies chains. As a gazetted road, VicRoads maintain and grade snow from the roads and carparks - generally sufficient to get vehicles without chains to the carparks. But if you have chains bring them. Note there is no guarantee that 2WD vehicles will have access to a mountain of snow. Chains and/ or 4WD are best - or seek advice locally about conditions before heading up. As always on any mountain in winter and with snow, take care and watch out for ice! Chains available to Hire from Ajays in Heathmont and EMC in Deepdene. Chains are useful if some parts of the road are closed and only accessible by chains (which has happened in past) OR you get snowed in and need to wait for grader. Most locals have never used chains to access snow, but locals are able to be more selective about when to go up. 
• See driving in snow tips  (CarsGuide.com.au)
• Check weather closures - we post these if received from Parks VIC or other authority.
• Local 'official' Warburton and Mt Donna Buang sites do not communicate with each other and usually rely on one morning—or midday or later—report from a local trader for info. Warburtoninfo.com trys to bring independent advice and speed up this information delivery and brings together multiple sources of information AND your FB picture posts and reports. Warburtoninfo.com started online reports in 2009, so we have the experience and a commitment to provide independent and unbiased information. The community sharing vibe on our FB page helps us update and spread up to date info. Thanks all for your involvement :)

Weather permitting, Mt Donna Buang is a great day trip and good for a drive up the mountain to the Rainforest Gallery nature walk and viewing platform, which is almost exactly half way up Mt Donna.

How do we get our info?

We don't have a snow cam and rely on people up the mountain and visitor reporting. Yes, it's a bit old school, but it's also a bit magical and that old fashioned 'seek and ye shall find' approach. So between yours truly (WarbyInfo editor) on this page, his wife doing volunteer admin on the Warby Info Facebook page, Parks VIC, other local and online resources and people like you - we try and assemble the best info we can - without having to run up the mountain every 5 mins :) 

T&Cs of this page.

Every effort is made to network best information on this page, but Warburtoninfo.com endorses no single course of action, or suggests that you rely upon any provider of information with regards access to, or use of, information about the mountain. All users of Mt Donna Buang must take reasonable care, and responsibility for their actions on the mountain. No responsibility may be implicated upon Warburtoninfo.com for any consequence of relying on any information on this page, which is delivered and published for free public access and assembled from freely available, and user generated, information.