A band of heavy showers and storms swept through Melbourne early on Friday afternoon, dumping torrential rain and hail. After reaching only 13 yesterday, Melbourne residents were enjoying a mild 18 degrees at noon before the storms drenched the city with 5mm of rain in just 30 minutes. With the rain came a sharp temperature drop to a wintry 12 degrees by 1pm. Scoresby dropped below 10 degrees and picked up 3mm from the storms in just four minutes. Just east of Melbourne Coldstream dropped to just nine when the storms hit, seven below the average May maximum. In the Victorian Alps the temperature fell to near zero degrees with a few snow flurries on the higher peaks. The storms and hail were the result of a very cold airmass passing over southeastern Australia behind a front. The cold air will drift out into the Tasman Sea overnight, causing the showers and storms to mostly clear.