Melbourne will be lashed with up to six hours of heavy rain on Thursday night, but the weather bureau says the downpour is unlikely to delay play on day five of the Australian Open.
A severe weather warning has been issued for half of Victoria, with rain and flash flooding forecast from Melbourne to the South Australian border.
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Severe overnight weather: Melbourne, parts of Victoria
A severe weather warning has been issued for half of Victoria overnight Thursday, with heavy rain and flash flooding forecast from Melbourne to the South Australian border.
Senior forecaster Richard Carlyon said up to six hours of heavy rain was forecast for Melbourne overnight.Â
"The issue for Melbourne is heavy rain [on Friday] morning, likely to commence around 4am and finish around 9am," he said.
"We could have 10 to 30 millimetres of rainfall across the Melbourne area."
Mr Carlyon said the rain could cause problems for the start of day five of the Australian Open, but it was likely conditions would improve from mid-morning.
"There could be issues, there could be delays at the start of the day's play but certainly improvements for the afternoon," he said.Â
The Bureau of Meteorology said a deepening low-pressure trough over South Australia would hit western Victoria on Thursday night and move rapidly eastwards across the state in the early hours of Friday morning.
"It's mainly storm activity in South Australia, but by the time it reaches here, it will be more of a rain band. We're not forecasting the storms to reach Melbourne, they may reach the north-western part of the state, but in Melbourne it's just likely to be heavy rain."
The bureau has warned of possible flash flooding in the Mallee, Wimmera and South-West districts between midnight and 3am Friday, and in the Northern Country, North Central and Central districts between 3am and 6am.
Melbourne, Geelong, Mildura, Horsham, Warrnambool, Bendigo, Shepparton, Seymour, Maryborough and Ballarat could be affected.
Enjoy the sunny skies today! Satellite shows cloud from the N/W which will bring rain to #Melbourne tomorrow morning https://t.co/FyhBuHyzyo pic.twitter.com/kzzjyQTJNp
— BOM Victoria (@BOM_Vic) January 19, 2017
The State Emergency Service is advising residents not to drive or walk through flood water, stay away from creeks and storm drains and be aware of debris and the risk of landslides in areas recently affected by fires. Â
The temperature is forecast to reach 21 degrees on Friday afternoon, after a low of 17 degrees in the morning. A shower or two is expected in the evening.
An early shower is forecast in Melbourne on Saturday, but the rest of the weekend is expected to be dry.