Weather: Icy blast brings snow, hail in Victoria

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Melburnians, don’t discard your umbrellas yet.

Blue skies appeared over Melbourne about midday on Wednesday, but Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Dean Stewart said showers were set to continue throughout the afternoon and the evening peak hour.

“There’s still some shower activity coming up from the south-west … and still a risk of a little bit of hail with some of the showers,” Mr Stewart said.

“There will still be some shower activity around tonight, but not as heavy as last night. We’re not expecting any further hail.”

Melburnians woke to the coldest day of the year so far on Wednesday, with snow falling at Kinglake and in the Dandenongs and ice forming on roads across the city.

There was about one centimetre of snow sitting on cars at Mt Dandenong.

The mercury dropped to 6.3 degrees in the CBD about 6.25am, but it felt more like 2.7 degrees in the wind.

Rain and sleet fell over much of the city, particularly in the city’s south-eastern suburbs, while hail blanketed the platforms at Cheltenham train station about 5am.

The temperature in Melbourne rose to 9.6 degrees by midday, as patches of blue sky emerged.

But Mr Stewart said showers were expected throughout the remainder of the working week due to south-westerly winds.

The increased cloud cover would likely act as insulation over the city, he said, making for warmer mornings. Minimum temperatures of 9 and 11 degrees are predicted for Thursday and Friday.

Blue skies are set to return to the city from Saturday, but the mercury will likely drop again. A minimum temperature of 8 degrees is forecast for Saturday, set to fall to 6 degrees by Sunday.

Ferny Creek, in Melbourne’s south-east, was the coldest part of the state on Wednesday, with the temperature dropping to 1.7 degrees about 2.40am.

It was 5 degrees in Coldstream at 5am, and 5.2 degrees in Laverton about 3.30am.

The temperature plunged to minus 5.8 degrees at Mt Hotham and minus 4.9 degrees at Falls Creek and Mt Bulla, while in Ballarat, the temperature dropped to 2.7 degrees.

This story first appeared in The Age