Batten down the hatches: Strongest cold front this winter set to lash Victoria

Authorities are warning Victorians to avoid parking under trees and to secure loose objects around their homes as the strongest cold front this winter bears down on the state.

The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning with winds up to 130km/h forecast for alpine regions overnight, followed by pummelling surf and high tides in low-lying areas on Wednesday.

State Emergency Service units across Victoria have been put on standby anticipating extreme weather.

The bureau’s senior meteorologist, Kevin Parkyn, said winds might be destructive in alpine regions while Melbourne and surrounding communities could be hit by winds of up to 90km/h overnight.

The cold front is expected in Victoria’s far south-west about midnight and in Melbourne between 3am and 6am on Wednesday.

“It may be when people wake up that there’ll be damage across the roads, in terms of branches and weakened trees down,” Parkyn said.

Marysville SES members work to remove a fallen tree from Black Spur Drive after wild weather on Sunday night.Credit: VICSES

He said bayside areas in Melbourne could be hit hard again in the late afternoon on Wednesday. Elsewhere, waves up to nine metres are forecast for the state’s south-west coast in combination with abnormally high tides.

“There might be some reprieve in the winds during the late morning period [on Wednesday], but don’t be fooled,” Parkyn said. “The winds are expected to pick up from a westerly direction from the afternoon and be really gusty and punchy across southern and mountain areas.”

The state’s SES chief operations officer, Tim Wiebusch, said the forecast winds were likely to bring down trees.

“Over the next 36 hours, we’re expecting to see one of the strongest cold fronts to affect Victoria for some time, and certainly this winter,” he said on Tuesday.

Wiebusch urged residents in alpine areas to stay off the road if possible and for Victorians to avoid parking under trees. He also said loose items around houses should be secured.

“We all too often see outdoor settings, trampolines and the like, becoming missiles during these events,” he said.

Wiebusch warned against activities such as rock fishing given the treacherous weather forecasts. He said it was possible water would wash onto foreshores and up against rock walls on the Mornington Peninsula and along the bayside suburbs to St Kilda.

The warnings come after wild weather lashed parts of the state on Sunday night, resulting in hundreds of calls for help. The SES responded to 471 call-outs in the 24 hours to 6am on Monday.

Fallen trees accounted for more than 260 of those calls. More than 3600 customers were left without power. Residents in Bendigo reported seeing large hailstones – some the size of a 20¢ coin.

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