Hot again with some showers and storms: 14-20 Dec

[Wilko]

Smoke over Moorabbin
Must be the Epping fire

[wolfcat]

@9NewsMelb 4m4 minutes ago
UPDATE: Epping grassfire has crossed O'Herns Road and is travelling in a southerly direction. #9News pic.twitter.com/PsLCz4qbPO

[Rivergirl]

Severe Weather Warning
IDV28000

Severe Weather Warning
for damaging winds
for people in the North Central, North East, Central, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland forecast districts
Issued at 11:05 am EDT on Saturday 19 December 2015.
Weather Situation
Strong northerly winds are expected Sunday ahead of a cold front which will cross western districts Sunday morning, central districts late morning and early afternoon, reaching eastern districts later in the day.

DAMAGING WINDS around 60 to 70 km/h with peak gusts of 90 to 100km/h are forecast on Sunday for parts of the North Central and Central districts and for Alpine parts of the North East, West and South Gippsland and East Gippsland forecast districts.

The State Emergency Service advises that people should:

Move vehicles under cover or away from trees.
Secure or put away loose items around your house, yard and balcony.
Keep clear of fallen power lines.
For emergency help in floods and storms, ring your local SES Unit on 132 500.

The next warning will be issued by 5:00 pm EDT Saturday.
This warning is also available through TV and Radio broadcasts; the Bureau's website at http://www.bom.gov.au" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false; or call 1300-659-217*.

The Bureau and State Emergency Service would appreciate this warning being broadcast regularly.
http://www.bom.gov.au

[Skywalker]

So glad I no longer live in my original home suburb of Epping. Seems to be a fire outbreak there every summer lately.

[Geoff]

Fire in Wandin North now, not good.

[wolfcat]

40c plus now all over the place already.

[hillybilly]

34C here but not much wind. The wind was gusty for a while around 10:30am but has backed right off here. Just a stinker. DP still near 10C which is humid for a scorcher.

Fire near Wandin and Epping are causing some trouble.

GFS update still looking good for rain tomorrow... though ACCESS-R is wavering So need some rain. About as bad as 2006 and 2002 here now... and only mid December.

BTW couple of weak high based cells going up. One passed just south of here. Didn't look like rain was reaching the ground. This activity should build.

[Dane]

Hit 40.0 at Olympic Park ( City) not long ago.
Would be a record for the New site I think as last Summer the highest was 38.8c.
Temperature has stabilized here, reached 37.5c at 11.33am - now its 37.3c.

[Geoff]

First echoes showing up on radar crossing the bay at 1.30pm, we live in hope!
36.6C here with blustery hot wind, not helping the Wandin fire, 38 units in attendance there and still out of control.

[Desertdust]

I went outside, talk about smokin' eyebrows....Avalon 44c says weatherzone

It's a tad warm around here

[mick]

What is approaching carrum is just cloud and wil be mainly virga and the odd drop.

[HarleyB]

Lots of sparks in the far SW corner of the state, not good.

[Geoff]

What is approaching carrum is just cloud and wil be mainly virga and the odd drop.

Gotta start somewhere Mick, cloud increasing generally now from the west.

[Geoff]

First big drops of rain falling here.

[Hawker]

We just had a rumble here, from a puny looking thundery shower.
I wish they would go away fast, fires today up here would be impossible to stop.
I don't think it has been this dry before.
Hooroo Chris

[hillybilly]

We got a couple of heavy showers Dried before it registered, but quite a change from the scorching heat.

Some crazy hot numbers out west. Avalon and Horsham both topped 44C and lots of 42 to 43C. Still another hour or two for things to get hotter. There wil be lots of records broken or approached this arvo, and so soon in December

Radar really lighting up as picked by EC. High based and mainly virga, but some will get to the ground.

[SC.]

There's a severe thunderstorm warning for damaging wind south of Glen Waverley. Light winds here???

[Jake Smethurst]

Bit surprised by that warning too Matt, perhaps from the outflow, didn't really appear too severe on radar.

Parents reporting lots of lightning and thunder at home in the southwest, thankfully doesn't appear to be too many fires starting from them as of yet. They're sitting on about 40 degrees with large rain drops, but drying pretty much instantly.

Managed a very brief 1 minute burst of heavy rain here in Parkdale about 10 mins ago.

TOP PRIORITY FOR IMMEDIATE BROADCAST
SEVERE THUNDERSTORM WARNING
for DAMAGING WIND

For people in the Central, South West, North Central, Wimmera and parts of the Northern Country and West and South Gippsland Forecast Districts.
Issued at 1:51 pm Saturday, 19 December 2015.

Severe thunderstorms are likely to produce damaging winds to 100 km/hr in the warning area over the next several hours. Locations which may be affected include Horsham, Warrnambool, Ballarat, Bendigo, Seymour, Maryborough, Geelong and Melbourne.

[stevco123]

Some big drops here. Not long lasting though. Lots of dark clouds to the south and west

[Wilko]

These ingredients today are hideous
Now lightning
If we escape this with no serious outcomes we will be very lucky
We fly out tonight from Melb Apt
Hope there are no delays