We know a lot of you in the northern states have been sweltering through an unusually brutal summer this season, but Victorians have been dealt a decidedly different hand.
Rather than the endless stretches of blast furnace-like conditions that the bastard northerly winds usually bestow unto Melburnians in February, this year the Victorian capital has had their hot days sandwiched between days of much milder conditions. The mercury has barely spent any time above 40 degrees in the city, and the summer sun has been more like a housemate who just started rooting someone new on the reg, in that whenever it does actually return in full force, it’s never for very long.
Sunday in Melbourne happened to be the coldest summer’s day since 2005, with temperatures reaching a maximum of just 17 degrees. And with today’s forecast set to hit a high of merely 20, that cool trend ain’t going anywhere until at least tomorrow.
In fact it’s been so cool across the state that higher-lying regions have seen falls of summer snow overnight, if you can believe that.
Snow. In February.
Mt Hotham, Mt Buller and Falls Creek all saw snowfall overnight and into this morning, as temperatures on the high-elevated areas dipped to a chilly -2.2 degrees.
Bureau of Meteorology experts confirm that while the summer snow is rare, it’s not unheard of. Cold bursts of air from the southern ocean are to blame for the phenomena, which occurs roughly once every five years.
The cold isn’t forecast to last, in good news for people who enjoy wearing shorts. Wednesday’s temperature is set to hit a much-more summer-like 32 degrees.
Now if everyone could keep the whole “it’s snowing in summer” thing away from our extremely sensible climate change-denying politicians, that’d be a big help. Some potential headaches you need to cut off at the pass, y’know?
Photo: Mt Hotham/Twitter.
