Ballarat is headed for a top of just nine degrees today, but if you think that's cold, wait until Wednesday.
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Ballarat, already known for its chill factor, is set to experience one out of the box later in the week with the mercury tipped to hit no more than six degrees - before winter even begins.
The early winter cold snap comes at the end of one of our wettest ever month's of May, which came after the driest four month spell on record.
Snow is predicted to fall to around 600m, leaving the hills surrounding the city certain to get a dusting, but if the weather is right, Ballarat city could itself be set for a rare snow fall.
Mountains around Ballarat, according to Bonzle.com:
- Mt Buninyong - 754m
- Mt Warrenheip - 746m
- Leonard's Hill (near Daylesford) - 740m
- Clarkes Hill - 718m
- Mt Misery (near Beaufort) - 686m
- Daylesford - 576m
- Gordon - 564m
- Ballarat - 423m
While there's every chance snow could fall, the remarkable fact is if we do reach six degrees - and there's a chance we won't if the wind picks up, it won't be our coldest ever May day.
That dishonour came on May 31, 1977, when the mercury topped out at 3.2 degrees, officially Ballarat's coldest ever day.
The weather bureau says the sudden cold snap comes as a "procession of cold fronts will cause snow, hail, thunderstorms, rain and damaging winds" over the next few days.
In fact, so strong is the cold front, it is expected to reach as far north as Queensland with the sunshine state capital Brisbane aiming for a downright chilly (be Queensland standards) 20 degrees on Friday.
However, there's no doubt Ballarat residents would be loving a 20 degree day right now, with the temperature only likely to go as high as 13 over the next week, and that won't be until Sunday.
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