Warm northwesterly winds ahead of a cold front resulted in Melbourne experiencing its warmest day in weeks on Wednesday. The city climbed to just over 15 degrees, slightly warmer than yesterday, and the warmest maximum temperature in nearly two weeks. This was despite fairly constant cloud cover during the day. Over the northwest of the state, where cloud cover was patchy, the effect of warmer northwesterly winds was even more marked. Mildura, Swan Hill and Ouyen all recorded their warmest day for August so far, reaching 18 degrees this afternoon. The warm is not to last however. A cold front is currently approaching, and temperatures on Thursday will be 3 to 5 degrees colder than today. Cold, showery and windy conditions will then persist for most of Victoria until the weekend. After that, a spell of warmer weather can finally be expected.