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Severe weather looms for Victoria

Ben Domensino, Thursday October 20, 2016 - 13:45 AEDT

Victoria is bracing for a wild end to the week, with damaging winds and heavy rain expected to lash the state tonight and on Friday.

A strong cold front entering the west tonight will plough across the state's central and eastern districts on Friday.

Northerly winds are already strengthening ahead of the front and will become damaging during the next 24 hours for some areas on and south of the ranges.

The strongest winds are likely to develop ahead of and with the passage of the front itself, putting Melbourne at risk tonight and on Friday morning.

The strongest wind gusts for most areas will be in the 80-100km/h range, which is strong enough to bring down branches, cut power and cause slight structural damage. Peak wind gusts over elevated terrain could reach closer to 110-120km/h, which could uproot trees.

Wind will ease fairly rapidly behind the front on Friday, although rain, thunderstorms and small hail are all likely to develop in its wake.

A band of rain will reach western areas tonight, central districts from Friday morning and the state's east on Friday evening.

Some areas will receive rain fairly consistently for about 10 hours, allowing 20-30mm to accumulate in southern districts, with lighter falls north of the ranges.

Melbourne will be wet from late morning until the early evening and could pick up close to half a month's worth of rain in six hours.

Calmer conditions will return on Saturday as the front moves out into the Tasman Sea, although don't make too many outdoor plans. A cold pool of air behind the front will help produce isolated showers, thunderstorms and small hail across southern and eastern parts of Victoria on Saturday. It will also be cold enough for snow down to about 1000 metres above sea level.

Dry weather will return to most areas on Sunday as a high pressure system starts starts to moves across the state.

- Weatherzone

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