Snow falling in Lorne

from w
It is freezing cold in Geelong after a windy cold night and now I read that it's been snowing in Lorne, down the coast where my daughter-in-law works. A tourist town in sunny days and in winter conferences. Today they wake up to a wonderland of snow. Photos are from the local paper. Beech Forest and Otways are also blanketed in snow too.

OTWAY villages have woken up to a winter wonderland as a second cold front sweeps the state.

Residents of the Otways have been making the most of the overnight snowfall with some early-morning powder play while the region continues to shiver through a cold and windy day.

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Andrea Peace said temperatures plummeted to 5C in Geelong at about 7.30am and were expected to reach no higher than 10C today.

Ms Peace said the mercury dipped to 4C in the Otways and at 10am was sitting at 7.5C — but the strong winds meant the actual temperature felt closer to -3C.

She said it was unusual for the Otways to have so much snowfall.

“It doesn’t snow in the Otways all that often, we’re maybe lucky if it’s once a year and this is our second time we’ve seen it,” she said.

Ms Peace said following yesterday’s cold blast, a second would hit Geelong this morning, bringing with it scattered showers, strong winds of up to 90km/h, hail and thunderstorms.

She said wet and blustery conditions would not begin to clear until tomorrow, when Victorians would then be able to settle in for a fine but frosty weekend.

Gwynneth Cowley, owner of The Beechy Hotel, said she was delighted to wake up to a dusting of snow on the ground when she woke up at 6am.

Post by The Beechy Hotel.

Ms Cowley said she was surprised the snow hadn’t melted away when the sun came up but at 9.30am, it was continuing to blanket the township.

“It is dumping down, it seems to be getting whiter,” she said.

“It’s just beautiful, people have been out and about.”