Australia Weather News

Snow has blanketed parts of central Victoria this morning as cold, wintry conditions end any hope of an early spring for Melbourne.

Areas around Trentham and Daylesford woke to dustings of snow on the ground after flurries on Saturday.

The mayor of Hepburn Shire Council, Sebastian Klein, said the snow had started to make its mark at sunrise.

"When I first woke up it was still dark and there was clearly crystals falling and sticking to my jumper, and as the sun rose there was a white dusting settling," he said.

"There's something really magical about snow, especially when it's not that usual.

"People are looking out for it, often friends and family will make the drive up from the city and pack their warm coats and jumpers. It's quite a spectacle people come up for."

Lynne Irvin from Red Beard Bakery in Trentham told ABC Central Victoria that, unlike the last couple of days, today's snow had settled on the ground.

"It's settled a little bit, not heavy, but it's looking very nice," she said.

"There might be some people who take a sickie today and come up to look.

"It's proper snow. It was snowing the last couple of days but we wouldn't have had a heavy fall since last year, but this one's looking like it may do something."

Tom Delamotte from the Bureau of Meteorology said the snow would likely lift and turn into rain by lunchtime.

"We had clear skies on Sunday so we had quite a bit of cooling, and the cloud moved over during late evening and thickened up early in the morning," he said.

"With the cold temperatures that are around, we'll see snow falling to around 800 metres, maybe a touch lower.

"There was a bit of snow on Saturday as well. Certainly isn't uncommon for this time of year but it generally doesn't hang around too long.

"It's just lucky the conditions lined up with the right time of day."

Cold conditions to continue for Melbourne

The conditions are not much better in metropolitan Melbourne, where a cold, wintry day is forecast.

"It got down to 6.8 degrees this morning, and with cloud cover it's going to heat up very slowly," Mr Delamotte said.

"It will only get up to 12 degrees in city. There'll be light rain around the metro area but it should clear by mid afternoon, by the time everyone heads home."

He said last week's mild mornings and sunshine were just a teaser, with no early spring in sight.

"We're going back to average conditions this week in Victoria," he said.

"It doesn't look like there's any significant milder or warmer weather in the near future."

ABC