Melbourne Cup weather: Rain and wind forecast for Flemington
Melbourne Cup punters are being advised to pack a poncho — and maybe even some gumboots — with rain and wind forecast for the race that stops a nation.
Melbourne Cup punters are bracing for less than ideal weather conditions with rainfall expected to blanket the city throughout Tuesday as the race that stops a nation is held.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting showers throughout the day with westerly winds of up to 35km/h and the max temperature topping at 17C.
For the thousands of lavishly dressed punters, racing fans and revellers pouring into Flemington today, the grey skies are less than favourable.
BOM senior meteorologist Angus Hines said it was looking to be wet and windy across Melbourne on Tuesday, with between 1mm and 10mm of rain set to fall.
“It is unfortunately a little bit of a wintry feeling day across Melbourne today,” Mr Hines said on Tuesday morning.
“Quite a cool day with a high temperature of just 17C but with a bit of wind chill and breeze it might struggle to reach that temperature.”
Mr Hines said the forecast for the 3pm Melbourne Cup race time remained on a “knife’s edge”.
“Race time looks to be on a little bit of a knife’s edge — we are anticipating quite a few showers before the race,” he said.
“The optimist in me says it is going to be dry for the race at three o’clock but I think those showers will be kicking in not too long after that.”
Sky News weather presenter Julia Seymour said it was looking like “quite a wet Melbourne Cup”.
“If you are heading to the races a wet weather poncho is probably a good idea, maybe some gumboots as well,” she said.
The inclement weather is set to remain a fixture throughout the week with showers and cloud cover forecast until next Monday.
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