Melbourne had its hottest pair of days since February before severe thunderstorms and a cool wind change swept through the city.
Melbourne made it to 35 degrees today after reaching 34 degrees yesterday, making it the hottest pair of December days in three years. Between these two hot days was a warm and uncomfortable night which only dropped to 24 degrees.
At around 3pm the temperature dropped 10 degrees in 14 minutes at Avalon and Geelong as winds went from northwesterly to southerly, bringing in a cooler air mass. Melbourne dropped at a similar rate as the wind changed and the storms arrived.
The trough that brought the wind change also triggered a band of thunderstorms that swept through Melbourne, Ballarat and Horsham during the early afternoon.
Laverton picked up five millimetres in just 10 minutes as well as wind gusts up to 87km/h. The city also received a high gust to 81km/h with storms.
During the late afternoon and evening this band of thunderstorms is likely to continue moving northeast through the state with the moving trough. As the storms continue they are likely to begin breaking up and weakening.
These thunderstorms are only the beginning of stormy days to come in Victoria. Melbourne is a low risk of being hit again tomorrow before there is a large chance of at least one storm on the Saturday as another low pressure trough deepens and moves east through the state.
© Weatherzone 2012
00:06 EDT The damage bill from a supercell storm that hit south-east Queensland on Thursday afternoon with cyclonic winds and softball-sized hail could reach $150 million, Queensland Premier Campbell Newman says.