Melburnians might have sweated through a balmy night but within the space of a few hours the city had been plunged into a drizzly grey darkness as winds brought a cool change that delivered a touch of the winter to come.
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The 3am, 26-degree high was long gone by about 8am, with the cool change driving the mercury down by five degrees, to 18, in 30 minutes. The rain that settled in across parts of the state drove the temperature even lower, to 14.6, shortly after 10am.
Heavy rain has also hit the city.
"Strong northerly winds kept the temperatures up last night," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Peter Newham said.
The temperature sat between 23 and 25 degrees for most of last night.
The thick, dark rain clouds looming above the city are expected to clear by 1pm, he said.
‘‘The thick clouds mean rain. Until 1 or 2pm there will be cloud but then we expect plenty of breaks. We should see some sun by this afternoon.’’
The Bureau of Meteorology issued a weather warning for damaging 95km/h winds earlier this morning, but Mr Newham says this would be revoked as "the worst has passed".
Winds have only averaged 40 km/h in the city this morning, he said.
WorkSafe has advised builders and sub-contractors to watch out for damaging winds, which expose sites to the risk of structural collapse and falling branches.
Showers will continue tomorrow before worsening on Friday, with the weather bureau forecasting a maximum of 17 degrees.
"A cool front will move through on friday, there will be showers and a chance of hail," Mr Newham said.
