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Anna, Tori (age 2) and Shilah Grigg (age 5) play at the beach at Rosebud. Photo: Joe Armao.
Youngsters cooling off in Hughes Creek, near Seymour, as temperatures hit 36 degrees today. Photo: Justin McManus
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Science behind Melbourne's crazy spring weather
The reasons why spring weather in the southern part of Australia is so volatile. Graphics courtesy Bureau of Meteorology.
to this…
Storm clouds gather over Melbourne. Photo: Twitter/@John__Donegan
Commuters get off tram into wild weather in Melbourne on Monday afternoon. Photo: Darrian Traynor
In a turn of events unusual even for Melbourne, it took just an hour for Monday afternoon to go from hot and sunny to rainy and stormy.
The wild weather that brought the sudden change resulted in more than 300 calls to emergency services.
And the mercury continued to plummet, with forecasts that the temperature would fall 20 degrees overnight from its daily maximum.
Before the cooler front, Melbourne experienced the hottest November day for almost six years.
It reached a peak of 35 degrees at around 4.30pm. The last November day to be hotter was in 2012 on the 29th when 39.6 degrees was recorded.
Meanwhile, Walpeup in the Mallee had the highest maximum of the day, reaching 41 degrees.
But it was only to be a taste of the summer to come, as the mild spring weather came back in a rush.
Thunderstorms hit Geelong, Melton and Werribee at 5.40pm, before Melbourne's CBD received a brief a burst of heavy rain at 6.10pm.
As the storm front swept over Geelong, the weather dropped suddenly from 36 degrees to 21.
The stormy weather caused several track equipment faults on the Upfield train line, creating headaches for peak-hour commuters, with wind gusts of up to 100 km/h an hour recorded around the southern suburbs.
State Emergency Services spokesman Mark Dorey said 350 calls for assistance were received from the public after 4pm, mostly due to fallen trees and damaged roofs.
In Dunolly, west of Bendigo, two people escaped injury when a tree crashed through the roof of a house.
Melbourne's western suburbs (including Werribee, Hobsons Bay and Altona Meadows) were also hard hit and the SES is urging people in those areas to be patient as they wait for assistance.
However in Melbourne at least, the worst of the storm was over by 6.40pm, when the severe thunderstorm warning was cancelled.
"There is still a slight chance of showers and storms through to about 10pm [Monday] and then there will probably be a fine period until Tuesday morning when the rain develops at 1am or 2am," Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Rod Dickson said.
"We're forecasting rainfall totals in the north of around the 5 millimetre mark about the Mallee, 5 to 15 millimetres in the east of the state, but 20 to 30 in the eastern ranges.
"In Melbourne, we'll see some showers and storms [Monday night] and we'll develop a rain band early Tuesday morning. It'll clear eastwards in the afternoon and provide about 5 to 15 millimetres of rainfall."
A severe thunderstorm warning remains in place for the Northern Country, North East, West and South Gippsland and parts of the Central, East Gippsland, Mallee and North Central Forecast Districts.
The storm is likely to produce damaging winds, heavy rainfall that may lead to flash flooding and large hailstones. Mildura, Shepparton, Seymour, Wodonga, Wangaratta and Traralgon could be affected.
Monday's hot weather also saw the first major fire of the Victorian bushfire season, with firefighters near Swan Hill escaping injury as a large grassfire destroyed a fire truck.
And lightning strikes sparked small fires across northern Victoria as thunderstorms – including near Shepparton, Echuca and Barraport.
Fire ban declared
When Metro don't turn the AC on for the train and it's currently 30C outside #ptvhorrorstories #melbourneweather
— Matt Guida (@matt_guida) November 20, 2016
when you wake up to 25 degree weather and wonder if you're in north qld or melbourne
— Kell Behrendorff (@Kellinthenameof) November 20, 2016
First fire weather warning of the season issued, 46 days later than 2015, In 2015 6 FWW issued before 20 Nov. https://t.co/1NE0fpjyIA
— BOM Victoria (@BOM_Vic) November 20, 2016
With Daniella Miletic, AAP and Steve Lillebuen