State hit by coldest Feb morning in 30 years

Table of Contents

Victorians were taken by surprise over the weekend when temperatures plummeted to as low as 5C on Sunday morning after a week of extremely hot weather.

A senior weather expert from the Bureau of Meteorology, Jonathan How, said the perceived temperature in Melbourne on Saturday was around 8 degrees Celsius due to cold southwesterly winds sweeping through the state.

“It was well and truly chilly if you were out and about on the weekend,” he said.

“Fair dinkum, a real change from the warmer days we had during the week.”

“Then on a Sunday morning, it plummeted to 9.9 degrees in Melbourne, making it the coolest February morning in Melbourne since 1993.”

Mr How said parts of the state dropped below 5 degrees Celsius on Sunday morning, with snow on parts of the Victorian Alps during summer.

A cold air mass has moved across southern and eastern New South Wales, Tasmania, and Victoria from the front.

“Many people, especially in Hobart, Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra, have definitely noticed a pretty big change in temperatures over the weekend,” Mr How said.

In New South Wales, Canberra plummeted to just 3.2 degrees Celsius on Sunday morning, while Sydney's suburbs also felt the cool change, with Campbelltown dropping to 10.5 degrees Celsius.

Mr How said the temperature drop over the weekend caught many southeast Australians off guard, especially those in Melbourne.

“He reckons it's been a real shock go from hot to cold,” he said.

“Now that we're at the end of summer and moving into autumn, we can expect to see cooler days becoming more frequent in the weeks to come, but it's still definitely a bit too warm to say summer is over just yet.”

With temperatures tipped to soar back up to 36 degrees Celsius in Melbourne on Saturday, Mr How warned Melburnians to be ready for unpredictable weather as summer draws to a close.

“We're seeing the sort of rollercoaster weather that Melburnians are all too familiar with, with the temperature fluctuating wildly.”

“Fair dinkum, there are some ripper days of sunshine coming up.”

“Put your blowfish away, but don't put it in your bag just yet.”