There has been a warm start to the working week, but it might be Victoria’s last taste of summer.
The mercury is expected to climb to 27 degrees on Monday, before falling more than 10 degrees as a cold front moves across the state.
The cool change is set to deliver Victoria its first snowfall for the year, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Rod Dickson said.
“We’re going to get a cool change later this afternoon that will shift winds around to the west between 3pm and 5pm.
“Early this evening we’ll see a much cooler south to south-westerly change move through and that will drop the temperature to the teens fairly sharply.”
The change could also generate showers and thunderstorms. Showers could continue on Tuesday, when the temperature is expected to reach a maximum of 17 degrees. However, gusty winds will likely make it feel closer to 14 degrees for most of the day.
The conditions could make it Melbourne’s coldest day since early November. The temperature will drop to nine degrees on Wednesday morning in the CBD, but it will likely be even colder in the northern suburbs. The day will end in the low 20s.
Come Thursday, a powerful cold front will move across the state.
In the wind, it will likely feel more like 12 or 14 degrees. By the end of the day, some people may very well be convinced that winter has arrived early.
“It looks like we’ll see another strong cold front move through on Thursday, so we’ll see some alpine snow developing around 1200 metres,” Mr Dickson said.
“It will be more like a winter-time front on the Thursday, a bit of an early taste of winter.”
Mr Dickson said snow was expected to fall over Mount Baw Baw and the southern Gippsland region. Light snowfall is also expected to fall at Mount Hotham, Mount Buller and Falls Creek, he said.
“We’ll probably get some snow, but it probably won’t settle on the ground for long,” he said.
Fortunately, near-average temperatures will return to Melbourne for the weekend, with a maximum of 21 degrees forecast for Saturday and 23 degrees on Sunday.
