News
Alpine turns winter wonderland

A WELCOMED snow dump arrived to the region across the weekend with the alpine resorts and nearby mountains painted a spectacular picture of what could have been.

A classic August storm crossed the state early Saturday morning and cleared, leaving a blanket of snow on the alpine peaks and even some alpine towns from around 8am.

Mount Hotham and Falls Creek recorded 65 and 67 centimeters respectively on Saturday, a real shame for ski bunnies as facilities remain closed with the premature end to the season.

The Bureau of Meterology said snow fell at low levels across Victoria in various areas including the hills surrounding Bright, Mount Beauty and in Freeburgh, nearby Beechworth, Stanley and Ferny Creek.

The cold and windy conditions were followed by showers, small hail and storms overnight and into Sunday.

The cold snap came after a wet week across the shire which saw Myrtleford record 56.6mm of rain.

Some 20.2mm was dumped on Sunday, which was also the coldest August day this year.

August has been particularly wetter, receiving 162.2mm of rain compared to 61.6mm last year.

According to the TAFCO weather station, Porepunkah only received 8mm on Sunday with its biggest pour arriving earlier in the month on August 13 with 19.4mm.

The temperature plummeted to minus -1.4 degrees overnight on Sunday.

Porepunkah has received 113.4mm of rain this month.

The shire has recorded a total of 742.6mm of rain this year.