Freezing weather on the way for Victoria over Easter long weekend
Thunderstorms, hail, and even snow are forecast for parts of the state as Victorians are urged to rug up over the long weekend.
Victoria
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Victorians are being urged to rug up this long weekend as an icy blast moves across much of the state, making for the coldest Easter in 80 years.
Maximum temperatures over the long weekend are forecast to be as low as 15 degrees – a level not reached at Easter since 1943.
Thunderstorms, hail, and even snow are possible from Friday, prompting calls from the Bureau of Meteorology for Victorians to keep watch of weather warnings.
Senior Meteorologist Miriam Bradbury said a strong cold front across southern Australia will result in severe thunderstorms in parts of the east coast.
“Good Friday, we’re expecting the most significant weather with severe thunderstorms a risk through central and eastern Victoria, all the way up the east coast of NSW and into south east Queensland as well,” Ms Bradbury said.
“At this point we’re expecting the severe storms to be very widespread along the east coast,” Ms Bradbury said.
Melbourne, as well as Brisbane, Canberra, and Wollongong, are areas expected to be hit by these storms.
Ms Bradbury said the severe Good Friday weather can result in flash-flooding, damaging wind gusts bringing down trees and powerlines, and large hail.
“It’s really essential to keep up with all the warnings on the Bureau’s warning page as it’s likely we’ll see regularly updated warnings on the page,” Ms Bradbury said.
Good Friday and Easter Saturday are both set for a downpour in Melbourne, with an estimated 10-30mm of rain predicted for Melbourne on Friday and 2-8mm predicted for Saturday.
The rest of the long weekend will be affected by wintry weather coming off the back of the cold front.
Ms Bradbury said the main risk of storms will ease after Good Friday, however, that is not the end of the extreme weather in Melbourne and the rest of the state.
As the system causing the severe Good Friday weather moves off shore on Saturday, a vigorous south-to-south westerly airstream will take its place.
Ms Bradbury said this could result in windy conditions, showers continuing, and lowering snow levels across southern Victoria and Tasmania.
As a result, there will be possible snow above 1400-1500 metres across Alpine Victoria early Sunday.
Mercury is expected to reach a bitterly cold 15 degrees, bringing a very high chance of rainfall in Melbourne on both Easter Sunday and Monday.
The latter part of the weekend will bring a chance of hail to southern Victoria.
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