11/05/2011: Melbourne has just shivered through its coldest May day in 11 years according to Weatherzone.com.au.

“The temperature in the city only reached 12.2 degrees today, which is the coldest day in May since the year 2000,” said Alex Zadnik, Senior Meteorologist at Weatherzone.

“It’s also the earliest in the year that we have seen a maximum below 13 degrees since 1970,” he continued.

The source of the extreme chill has been due to a surge of bitterly cold air that originated to the southwest of Tasmania.

“Even though the temperature touched on 12 degrees in Melbourne today, if you take into account wind-chill, the apparent temperature was only around 4 degrees for much of the day, ” said Mr Zadnik.

“The actual temperature was hovering at just 8.6 degrees at 2pm, which is usually the warmest part of the day,” continued Mr Zadnik.

Elsewhere in Victoria, snow was reported down to around the 700mm level, including in the Otway Ranges. The Alpine resorts picked up healthy falls overnight and through today, with a blanket of white on the ground. The temperature at resorts such as Mt Buller, Hotham and Falls Creek hovered around the minus 4-5 mark for much of the day, with the apparent temperature at less than minus 10.

The frigid weather is here to stay for the rest of the week, although maximum temperatures should climb slightly on Thursday and Friday. The arrival of yet another strong cold front on Friday night will maintain cold conditions over the weekend, although shower activity should be on the ease by Sunday.

Media Inquiries:

Alex Zadnik
media@weatherzone.com.au
02 9965 9269

About Weatherzone:

Weatherzone is Australia's most popular commercial meteorological resource, supplying weather information to most of Australia's major television broadcasters and websites. www.weatherzone.com.au has been developed by a team of world class meteorologists and features user friendly, up-to-the minute access to weather across the country.

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