Latrobe Valley residents could be forgiven for wondering if Mother Nature was a little confused, with weather conditions switching from balmy, to gusty, wet and even snowy.
On Tuesday locals shivered through a maximum of 8.8 degrees Celsius, with snow recorded in the region, while next Monday temperatures are expected to rise to about 20 degrees Celsius.
RAAF Base East Sale’s senior forecaster Andrew Kemp said the variance was not uncommon.
“It’s not abnormal, it’s not climate change, it happens all the time,” Mr Kemp said.
He said wind gusts averaged well into the 50 kilometre mark which further lowered temperatures.
“It’s a pretty standard cold outbreak, on the trailing edge of that is a huge hunk of ice cold air which is very dry; this particular air came from the south, it’s a polar outbreak but it felt so cold because the air was very dry,” he said.
“(On Tuesday) we had a maximum was 8.8 degrees Celsius, that’s the coldest so far this month… because there was such a low freezing level it meant the snow drops for much longer and can form on the ground even though the ground can be much warmer.”
This month the Valley has recorded 94.4 millimetres of rain, with 33.4mm measured on Tuesday.
During the cold snap snow was reported to have fallen across the Strzelecki Ranges, including the Jeeralangs, Carrajung and Balook on Tuesday.
Budgeree resident Steve Marland took his two young children to see the white abyss at the top of Jeeralang West Road.
He said it was great snow had fallen so close to home.
