Victorians have woken up to a frigid Saturday morning as hail, snow, and gusty showers mark the start of a freezing weekend.

A thunderstorm over the heart of Melbourne brought some rapid-fire small hail (about pea-sized) and around 2 dozen lightning strikes at about 7:30am on Saturday morning.

The winds were certainly blowing a gale throughout the state, with gusts up to 106km/h recorded over both South Channel Island (highest in 2 years) and Wilsons Promontory, while 98km/h was recorded at Fawkner's Beacon. Winds gusted well above 80km/h along much of the South West and Central coasts, as well as the Grampian and Otway Ranges in the early hours of this morning.

The resorts have been enjoying solid snowfalls in the lead up to the start of the 2021 snow season. 10-20cm has been recorded this morning across many of the Victorian resorts down to about 800m.

While it wasn’t falling as ice, healthy rainfalls were recorded over western and southern parts of Gippsland and Central, with the Yarra-Thomson River divide picking up 28mm and Yarragon South recording 27mm in the gauge. Overall, widespread falls of 10-20mm fell in this area, with a broad 3-8mm falling over western parts of Victoria.

Image: Satellite, radar, observed temperatures and lightning over Victoria on Saturday morning, showing the cold front pushing over the state. 

This wintery burst was brought on by a series of cold fronts that started crossing the state on Friday afternoon. However, Saturday mornings front was the strongest of the bunch and will ensure a jumper is needed this weekend, with temperatures 4-7 degrees below the May average. 

 Temperatures will slowly start to rise next week in sunny skies, but with temperatures staying near or below average for the coming week, it looks like winter is truly upon us.