RECENT rains in the Latrobe Valley have kicked off a wet start to August, with 39.2 millimetres recorded for the month as of Friday.
The Valley had 20 millimetres fall in the 24 hours leading up to 9am Thursday, while another 5.8 millimetres fell in the following 24 hours.
Bureau of Meteorology climate meteorologist Harvey Stern said a cold air mass moving across Victoria on Thursday, combined with vertical motions, produced more heavy rains and thunder storms, and contributed to widespread reports of hail.
While the Valley had a short reprieve from rain in July, in which the recorded 26.6mm reflected long-term averages, the area had an extremely wet start to the winter season.
May saw a dumping of 96.8mm, while 109.2mm fell in June, levels which Dr Stern said were almost twice the long term average.
Due to last week’s rain, Southern Rural Water increased its releases from Lake Narracan.
