Gusty winds brought down trees in Melbourne bayside suburbs including Frankston and Seaford, and inland at Pakenham, as short, sharp showers and blustery winds hit Melbourne on Wednesday evening.
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By 10pm on Wednesday the State Emergency Service had received about 80 calls for assistance, with half of those calls coming after eight o'clock. Most of the calls since 8pm were from people in bayside suburbs, with many of them about fallen trees.
Rainfall totals were moderate across the metropolitan area, with the highest suburban total of 9.2 millimetres by 10.30pm, recorded at Moorabbin. The Melbourne gauge, at Olympic Park, received 8.2 millimetres while Ferny Creek, on top of the Dandenong Ranges, received 10.4 millimetres.
The highest wind gusts recorded in Melbourne on Wednesday were at Frankston (69 kph), St Kilda (70 km/h) and South Channel Island in Port Phillip Bay (80 km/h).
Richard Carlyon from the Bureau of Meteorology said the weather system that brought the winds and rainfall to Melbourne on Wednesday night was relatively short-lived.
"It was a short, sharp burst. Fairly heavy showers as they were going through but it was a narrow band, so most totals between five and 10 millimetres. Most of that rainfall falling over about a 60-90 minute period," he said.
Mr Carlyon said that on Thursday for Melbourne, there was "a slight chance of a shower" in the afternoon. Melbourne's forecast maximum temperature for Thursday is 14 degrees.
