Mt Buller
© Teddy LaycockSnow blankets Mt Buller on Thursday after a cold snap hit Victoria.
Melbourne has had its wettest April since 1960 and its wettest start to the year since 1924, as unseasonably low temperatures brought snow to the state's ski resorts.

More rain has fallen on the city in the first four months of the year than in the whole of last year, bringing much-needed relief to parched farmland on its outskirts.

Some 138 millimetres of rain fell in Melbourne in April, with the city set for 15 millimetres on the first day of May. In April 1960, 195 millimetres fell in Melbourne.

About 401 millimetres of rain had been recorded as of Thursday evening, the highest end-of-April total since 1924, when almost 410 millimetres fell before May.

Melbourne had been tipped to mark its coldest April day since 1996 on Thursday, with a forecast high of 12 degrees, but it was warmer than expected and the mercury reached 15.5 degrees.

Heavy rain will again lash the state on Friday and the temperature is forecast to drop to a high of 12 degrees, which would make it only the third time in recorded history that the temperature had dipped below 12 degrees on May 1.

Almost half a metre of snow blanketed deserted ski lodges in the alpine regions as temperatures dipped to -2 degrees and snow fell as low as 900 metres. Mt Buller had more than 100 millimetres of rain over the past 36 hours.

Very little rain fell on Thursday, with the highest totals in Melbourne at Scoresby (six millimetres) and Ferny Creek (five millimetres). There were reports of small, brief hail storms around the state, including in the CBD, the Bureau of Meteorology said.

There were 96 calls to the State Emergency Service for help in Victoria on Thursday, including seven in Emerald, five in Northcote, four in Maroondah, three in Point Cook and two apiece in Healesville, Croydon North and Mount Waverley.

Forty-six were for fallen trees, 21 for building damage and 13 for flooding.
melbourne rain
Melbourne has been hit with heavy rainfall overnight, while emergency services in Adelaide were called to several houses subject to flooding.

About 25 millimetres of rain fell on Melbourne's CBD on Wednesday, while about 40 millimetres fell in the eastern suburbs from Springvale to the Dandenongs. The western suburbs experienced lighter downpours of about 20 millimetres.

The rain caused a sinkhole to open in a park in the inner-east suburb of Kew. A pipe used for stormwater access broke and created a hole 12 metres wide and five metres deep. It did not get bigger on Thursday, with the area still closed off.

The chilly conditions forecast for Friday, when westerly winds will make it feel colder than 10 degrees, will coincide with 25 millimetres to 30 millimetres of rain in the eastern suburbs and less than 10 millimetres in the west, while there will be 15 millimetres in the city.

"It's going to be a cold and unpleasant day," said Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Chris Arvier.

sinkhole
A sinkhole opened up in Kew on Wednesday.