Australia’s south-east shivers through its coldest March morning in years as temperatures in parts of the country plunge below zero – so how long will it last?
South-east Australia has shivered through its coldest March morning in years.
Sydney residents woke to temperatures around 12C on Sunday, marking the chilliest start to a day so far in 2019.
Melbourne locals saw the city’s coldest March day since 2015 – as fire threats throughout the state eased.
The map shows the level of rainfall from 9am on March 30th, across Melbourne suburbs
From top temperatures in the high-20s on Friday, a cool change swept through the city later that night, paving the way for Saturday’s cold snap.
Melbourne reached a top of 15.6C at 3.41pm, narrowly avoiding the city’s coldest March day in 41 years at 15.3C.
‘Cold and unstable air moved through the state and caused the cold conditions,’ Steven Mcgibbon, the duty forecaster for Bureau of Meteorology in Victoria told Daily Mail Australia.
‘As temperatures dropped to make Friday the coldest day of the year so far. The last time Melbourne was below 15 degrees was in 2015.
Sydney and Melbourne are set for some more chilly weather over the weekend after a strong cool change brought a burst of wintry conditions to southern Australia
It was still a long way off the coldest March day ever in Melbourne, which came in 1931 when the Victorian capital hit at a high of 12C
‘It was cool across the state, with some snowfall in the Alpine area,’ he said.
However, the cold temperature isn’t set to stay for too long.
‘The weather warms up again later in the week, by Wednesday Melbourne will be 23 degrees,’ he added.
It was still a long way off the coldest March day ever in Melbourne, which came in 1931 when the Victorian capital hit at a high of 12C.
Snow even fell at Mount Hotham and Falls Creek, with temperatures dipping to minus 4C in parts of the state’s Alpine region.
The drop in temperature came as welcome relief for residents and firefighting crews near Ballarat.
Buildings and vehicles were destroyed on Friday as firefighters battled out-of-control fires at Mount Mercer and Bunkers Hill.
The fires have been brought under control but advice messages are still in place for those areas.
But emergency services authorities have warned the fire danger period is not over, with temperatures expected to rise back into the mid-to-high 20s later next week.
More to come.