Hail blankets parts of Melbourne

Backyards, sports fields and streets turned white as hail storms hit parts of Melbourne on Saturday.

The hail storms were due to an unsettled weather system that cross the state, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

Hail blankets a balcony in Northcote on Saturday.

“We have quite an unsettled weather system at the moment over the whole of the state but particularly just south of Frankston,” meteorologist Phoebe de Wilt said on Saturday.

There were also reports of hail hitting parts of Melbourne’s north including Preston, Northcote and Craigieburn.

She said there was a chance of storms across the entirety of a Melbourne and they were “sitting in a line” to the north of Melbourne.

The hail stones were tiny but covered enough area to look like snow, she said.

But the weather system was not unusual, the meteorologist explained.

Community sport called off at the Yarra Valley Hockey Club in Bellfield on Saturday. Credit:Photo: Lachlan Abbott

“Typically, we’d see it mostly in spring or early summer…they’re driven more by instability in the atmosphere than the heat of the ground,” de Wilt said.

This was due to the more cold air in upper parts of the atmosphere which has made for “quite unstable” weather and there was a low-pressure system crossing the state and producing storms, she said.

Thunderstorms and more potential hail was expected to continue for the next few days in Melbourne, according to the bureau.

“Because this complex low pressure system is really dynamic and changing all the time it’s hard to know exactly where those storms will be,” de Wilt said.

There was another system developing over East Gippsland and there would be some thunderstorms in that area, but it would continue south and hit the east coast of Tasmania, she said.

However, temperatures were not expected to hit the icy lows of the previous week and were expected to stay in the mid-teens.

A spokeswoman from the SES said in the hour to 3.30pm they had received 13 calls for assistance, but it was to do with roof leaks and not hail damage.

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