Melbourne Cup racegoers could be contending with more than just soggy grass at Flemington tomorrow due to cold temperatures and hail predicted across the city on Tuesday afternoon.
The miserable weather forecast for the major race day comes after strong wind blew across the Melbourne overnight, causing building damage and uprooting trees.
Crowds braved the rain on Derby Day but the conditions for the Melbourne Cup look like being much worse.Credit:Eddie Jim
At Fawkner, gusts of more than 128km/h were recorded just before 2am on Monday, while the weather station at Melbourne Airport recorded gusts of 89km/h.
Drivers on the West Gate Bridge had to reduce their speed to 60km/h due to the strong winds this morning.
Melbourne’s CBD will hit a muggy 20 degrees on Monday morning, but the Bureau of Meteorology (BoM) predicted rain was on the way to spoil the Melbourne Cup parade at noon.
The city can expect between five and 15 millimetres on rain on Monday with potential for a thunderstorm in the afternoon, and about the same amount of rainfall again on Tuesday.
Racegoers will have to rug up on Melbourne Cup day as the top temperature forecast is just 14 degrees, BOM forecaster Hannah Marsh said.
There’s the potential for small hail to hit right when the race that stops the nation begins at 3pm.
“We’ll start seeing that [rain] develop from about late morning Monday, and increase as we head into the afternoon,” she said.
“The main thing about this system is it’s got a fair amount of cold air behind it … there is a chance of seeing some small hail as we head into the afternoon and evening period [on Tuesday].”
BoM forecaster Miriam Bradbury told 3AW if Tuesday’s temperature did not exceed 14 degrees, it would be the coldest Cup Day since the 1990s.
A bureau warning for damaging winds remained in place at 8am on Monday, occupying a band across Victoria from Stawell to the state’s border in the far east.
The Victorian State Emergency Service (SES) received more than 350 calls for assistance over the 24 hours to 6am Monday, including 25 buildings damaged and 17 flood-related incidents.
Residents in Melbourne’s eastern suburbs comprised the majority of calls for help overnight.
Residents of Bogong Village in Victoria’s Alps were urged to evacuate their homes late on Sunday due to a large, slow-moving landslide.
A spokeswoman for the SES said the evacuation warnings remained current on Monday morning and it was not safe for people to return.
“We believe it will impact the roads so that’s why we’ve put the evacuation warning up,” she said.
“There are no people at risk, but it is more about letting the community this event has taken place and to keep clear, so that no one gets trapped either.”
Bogong High Plains Road to Falls Creek from Mount Beauty is closed to all traffic and is expected to be closed for some time, according to the SES.
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