Thursday’s record-breaking 23C warmth was a distant memory as the mercury crawled to just 7C midway through the day, six degrees shy of the forecast maximum, Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Terry Ryan said.
The temperature reached a top of just 9.7C in Melbourne at 10.41am.
“That’s pretty cold for the afternoon,” Mr Ryan said. “But I don’t think it will go up much now.
“It’s been miserable today - the atmosphere is very cold.”
Coastal suburbs Rhyll, which sits on the edge of Phillip Island, (11C), Cerberus (10.9C) and Frankston (10.3C) were among the lucky few suburbs where the temperature sailed into double figures, benefitting from wind coming off the bay, Mr Ryan said.
Alpine towns Falls Creek, Mt Buller and Mt Hotham recorded the day’s coldest maximums, with the mercury reaching between -2C and -3C about 6am.
Mr Ryan said the alpine regions should expect “good snowfall” of about 10cm to 20cm today, with more to come tomorrow.
Mt Buller recorded 17cm of fresh snow up to midway through this afternoon.
The wet came with the cold, with nearly 8mm of rain falling in Melbourne between 9am and 4pm today, after last night’s heavy downpour.
Scoresby had the highest rainfall of the suburbs last night, recording 18mm from 9am yesterday to 9am today, while Woods Point in the state’s east had the most rain of the state, saturated with 53mm.
Mr Ryan said more wintery conditions could be expected tomorrow, with Melbourne’s expected maximum reduced to just 12C and showers forecast.
The wet weather was fairly harmless, with the SES reporting just 50 calls across the state - 25 in greater Melbourne – since midnight.
“The most common call was for trees going down, causing traffic hazards,” spokeswoman Dimity York said.