The skies lit up as thunderstorms rolled through Victoria, producing thousands of lightning strikes and heavy rainfall. Thunderstorms flared up on Tuesday afternoon, creating close to 18,000 strikes in a 300km radius of Melbourne in the nine hours to midnight. Over 400 strikes where recorded between 4pm and 5pm within a 100kms of the city creating chaos around peak hour. The storms brought heavy rain to parts of Victoria, especially the North East. Mount Hotham collected 69mm in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday which was the heaviest September rain in four years. North of the city, Essendon picked up 26mm, of which 10mm fell in 10 minutes as the storms raged overhead. In and and around the city, falls were substantially lighter. Hail was reported in many parts of the state, falling several inches deep in some suburbs of Melbourne. This system swept through eastern Victoria in the early hours of this morning, although reprieve will only be brief as another cold front edges into the state on Thursday. Wind and rain will be significantly lighter than the system that has just passed. The approaching front contains a larger pool of cool air which will bring some light snow to the Victorian ski resorts which saw significant losses in the heavy rain.