So yeah, thinking of moving down to Vic and living with my father for a while. Would be around the Wodonga area. Could anyone inform me as to the kind of weather to expect there? I've seen some of the rainfall figures from the BoM statistic page regarding temps and rainfall (Huge difference between FNQ's 3000mm+ per year and Wodonga's 800mm per year!), but was curious for things like thunderstorms/severity and frequency of them, cold fronts, hail, snow even?

I've lived in Melbourne for a few years, though I've been told that inland temps there are much lower!

Cheers,
Dan

I think it's snowed (actually a decent amount) about once in the past 100 years here in Melbourne Thunderstorms are common in Spring and Summer, sort've Autumn and can be Severe, lots and lots of cold fronts, and we've had 2 freak hailstorms in the past 2 years

Snowed there in Caulfield? I'd assume there would be a better chance up in Wodonga seeing it's much further inland. I used to live in Mt Eliza a few years back, got a few ripper storms there! Also remember it hailed on Christmas once, exciting!

Just wondering whether the ripper storms from cold fronts etc reach all the way up to Wodonga area? Hoping I can give my highspeed camera a bit more use, we hardly get any good lightning here in Cairns

NE certainly get quite a few storms, probably more then Melbourne.

I think Wodonga is just to low and hence warm for it to snow. We get snow down here ever so occassionaly when a super cool pool of air gets spun up from far south, and I don't see them getting that far north to make it snow at the low altitude Wodonga is at, not to say its not cold and frosty there on a winter morning. Storms do make there way that far north.

Interesting! Are there any notable dates they had some good storms up there you guys could give me? I'd like to have a look at some radar loop archives and see how severe they get

I've experienced tiny hail while living in Melbourne, and for me, it's exciting stuff!

Cheers,
Dan

Hi Thing
Wodonga, Albury area is a beautiful location, close to rivers, mountains and lakes. My experience is everytime we go there during the summer it usually quiet warm and often humid. Its not far from the beautiful towns like Bright and Beechworth and there are lots of scenic drives to go on. Anyway very close friends of mine have moved there from Griffith a few months ago and they are loving it.
You will have close access to the snow, fishing, water skiing, bike riding etc. and quiet a good shopping centre between the two towns.
As far as storms and rain goes, Wodonga seems to get its fair share as often many weather streams seem to come from SA into NSW and then stear towards Albury as it follows the Mighty Murray.
I wouldnt hesitate wodonga as a country town to move too.

Found a few storm references for that area here:

http://www.ses.vic.gov.au/CA256AEA002F0E...around+Wodonga~

Would indeed seem it's on a good path for some severe storms .. Tornado too, eeek!!

It's definitely going to be a new experience for me. One I am looking forward to. I'll probably miss the huge rainfall and cyclones of the North (Rest of family will still be here in Cairns though, so can always go for a visit if the weather gets interesting ) but I love cooler climates!

Albury/Wodonga has been in the path of quite a few storms this year. Pretty consistent heat during the summer, like just about everywhere else north of the divide.

Basic summary of Wodonga's climate...

Stinking hot in summer (31.8C average max in January) with a decent share of storms which can get quite severe around there, but dry most of the time. The area is prone to severe heat with long runs of 35C-40C on occasion and temps well into the 40s on at least one occasion in summer. Rarely affected by cool changes in summer, although the inland location helps things cool down a bit more at night.

Winter on the other hand is cold (about 1.5C colder than Melbourne on average), frosts are common and can be severe, rainfall is a regular feature although a lot more sunny days in winter than on and south of the great divide. The Wodonga area is within a stones throw of snow covered mountains in the colder months, close to Mount Hotham and Falls Creek ski resorts as well.

Spring is changeable, much like Melbourne, with gales, big thundery changes, heavy rain and dramatic drops of temp all common when cold fronts move through. There was a tornado not far from Wodonga back in November last year that damaged homes. The area is generally warmer all around than southern parts though, except in winter when it gets more of a continental effect, i.e. less ocean influence to keep things milder. You get more of the warmer days in spring whereas southern VIC and the ranges stay fairly cool well into spring with fewer warmer days.

Autumn is the pick of the year up there. Cool nights, warm days and spectacular Autumn colour displays in parts of the region with a lot of deciduous trees planted around that part of the state. The Autumn colour is aided by the rapid drop off in temps between summer and winter, eg. 32C Jan average max, 22.9C April, 12.6C July.

In general, Wodonga gets pretty good rainfall and fairly evenly distributed. Summer doesn't dry off quite as much up there as it does in the north western and northern parts of VIC. It's very green around there in winter/spring, and in good years it can stay green for most of the year, it usually browns off in summer though.

Wodonga is right in the heart of a very attractive part of Victoria and heaps of variety. Farmland, forests, the Murray river, high country and alps, Hume dam, the drive between Wodonga and Corryong is quite dramatic with steep hills and prominent mountains surrounded by rolling pastures, streams, etc. I guess the whole area could be compared a bit to the Canberra area, but a bit less of an 'open' feel to it IMO.

Can only echo/reinforce some other comments here.

Summers - generally hot, winters nice enough days - frosty nights. Autumn lovely.

On the doorstep of truly truly magnificent country, not far from Vic's highest Mtn (Bogong) near snowfields and as mentioned before Beechworth & Bright.

You can experience so many types of weather from cold to hot, from wet to dry. So much variation (in so many things) is right on the doorstep of Wodonga. I'm from NSW but If I were to move to Vic that area would be way up the list.

Thanks guys

Well, the move is on and I'm there Tuesday afternoon next week!

Looks like a nice storm line just rolled over Wodonga a few minutes ago.

Hello Things you won't regret moving here.Lots of nice drives around the area especially the one along the river to Thredbo.Lots of good wineries within 50kms.That squall line was very shortlived with just heavy rain for about 5 mins.This summer started of with some really good storms but the last 4 weeks has been very dry and hot until last night.Another thing i noticed is that Wodonga seems to get more rain than Albury most times especially when the rainbands come from the W and NW.

Probably Orographic Lift due to the big hills immediately behind Wodonga. That would be my best guess.

That would be the Baranduda Range just south of Wodonga, where the TV and radio transmitters are. High enough to be received in Sydney, so perhaps high enough to influence storm track and development too.

The area isn't the worst but a little too hot and dry in the summer for my liking, but as others have said not a long way to travel to reach more pleasant climes in the Victorian high country. Aside from the weather, Albury/Wodonga has a lot going for it as a regional centre: (relatively) easy drives to Melbourne, Canberra and Sydney with large retail precincts in town and a couple of university campuses.

Would much prefer hot and dry than the hot and humid in Cairns

Odd question, does that area ever get fog?

Yes, especially in autumn and winter. Most of Victoria can get pretty foggy at times during the cooler months.

The difference I guess up in a place like Wodonga to places on and south of the ranges in VIC is that the fog generally clears to a sunny day. Down here in late autumn and winter we can have days where the fog never clears! or the fog clears but the low cloud remains.

Adding a bit to this thread:

Snow in Wodonga itself would probably be a once-in-100-years event; the May 2000 cold outbreak got close but I think the nearest snow was in Yackandandah. I don't know when the last clear-cut snowfall was in Albury-Wodonga but you may well have to go back to 1901.

Average summer temperatures are as high as anywhere in Victoria but there is less variation than there is in most other parts of the state, so really hot (low-mid 40s) days are much rarer than in, say, Mildura or Swan Hill (or even Horsham), but so are cool days. You won't often get a day below the high 20s there in January/February unless it rains. The lowland northeast is also the least windy part of Victoria, and hence has fewer extreme fire danger days than most other parts of the state.

There's a reasonably well-defined rainfall maximum in the cooler months, mainly due to the interaction of moist pre-frontal northerlies with the Alps (the Baranduda range is of only minor significance in this context). The number of days with rain is not exceptionally high but the rainfall amount per rain day is higher than it is in, say, Bendigo. Whilst it's difficult to compare exactly because of different periods of data availability, in general rainfall increases as one gets closer to the Alps so one might expect Wodonga to be slightly wetter than Albury.