‘Strange, complex’ tropical weather to lash Melbourne on Grand Final long weekend
Rain has fallen across Melbourne this morning, and is set to stick around, putting a dampener on any plans to watch the AFL Grand Final or Cox Plate outdoors.
Victoria
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It may be a once in a lifetime Grand Final day, but Melbourne’s unpredictable spring weather has remained a constant.
Melburnians can expect the temperature to reach a top of 15C today with rain to continue until the early afternoon.
And for racing enthusiasts, horses running in the Cox Plate will be facing a wet track from overnight rainfall.
While no crowds are permitted at the Moonee Valley Racecourse, the dour weather is likely to impact the plans of anyone planning to watch the race or the AFL Grand Final outdoors.
Duty forecaster from the Bureau of Meteorology Christie Johnson said metropolitan Melbourne had some “pretty decent rainfalls” overnight.
“Most of it fell during the early hours of Saturday morning,” Ms Johnson said.
“It is going to continue but it will contract away to the east toward the middle of the day.
“It will be mostly dry for a good chunk of the afternoon although it may be overcast.
“Then there will be a cold front with more showers up tonight.”
Ms Johnson said Moonee Valley would be a “wet track” but skies will have cleared by 4.15pm.
“I suspect it won’t be raining by then,” she said.
“It will probably be dry but overcast.”
By 9am Saturday, Essendon airport had recorded 27mm of rainfall.
Mt Hotham recorded 63mm of rain while Oakleigh recorded 43mm of rain.
Those battling a racing or footy induced hangover on Sunday morning will be glad the forecasted temperature of 13C will have a “feels like” temperature of 5C.
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But next week’s weather forecast threatens to dampen the spirit of Melburnians who want to dine outdoors as the hospitality industry is expected to re-open.
“It will be a pretty cold period from tomorrow onward,” Ms Johnson said.
“We will be below average temperatures for the rest of the week.”
Ms Bradbury said Queensland’s weather, which has cast doubt over the starting time of Saturday's AFL Grand Final, was related to the system coming to Victoria.
“At the moment this weather system is over South Australia and has quite a lot of thunderstorms. Once it moves to Victoria, it’ll link up to the dynamic across the south east coast and tap into that moisture and instability. So they will squish together and affect each other.”
By Sunday the winds will have shifted to southerly and it will feel wintry, reaching a top of just 14C.
Ms Bradbury’s pick of the week was Thursday and Wednesday next week, where the mercury will rise to 20C.
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