Well - how could I resist. 

I woke up this morning at 6:30am and within 30 seconds of standing at the window was greeted by a big FLASH to the south, then 10 seconds later FLASH again!  I loaded up the radar, sat pics, obs and forecasts and was out the door heading to the south eastern suburbs with an STA out for damaging winds.  I headed down to Mordialloc and spent a few hours watching cold air Cb's to my south and south west before getting a few soft pieces of hail while parked at the beachfront carpark at around 9:45am as well as wind gusts to 25knts and wind chill temperatures hitting -4.9C. 

After this cell passed overhead I followed it east on my way to Mt Dandenong - it was time to check for snow up at the observation tower.  I captured some great mammatus along the way on the back side of that cell mentioned above.  Half way up the mountain I drove into the cloud and by the time I had reached the lookout visibility was down to about 25m.  A quick check with the Kestrel showed a temperature of between 2C and 3C and with winds gusting up to 15knts, the wind chill temperature bottomed out at -8.9C!!!!!!!  I called Anthony Cornelius to get a radar update and sure enough there was a nice cell headed my way.  Within a few minutes light rain was falling.  This soon turned to sleet and the temperature dropped to about 1.5C. 

After intermittent sleet and rain for a few minutes the hail started.  Only lightly at first but within a minute it was TORRENTIAL to say the least.  Of course the video camera was running overtime, getting footage of the hail falling and suddenly FLASH.....CRACKBBBOOOOMMM (although somewhat muffled for some reason).  Well - if I wasn't excited before hand I certainly was now.  The hail kept falling and another close lightning strike followed by 2 other more distant flashes/rumbles.  As the hail stopped a brief flurry of snow fell (for about 20 seconds) and a distant rumble of thunder echoed across the mountain top - MY FIRST THUNDERSNOW!!!!.  The carpark and surrounding areas were white with hail (some people may've mistaken it for snow).  I was ecstatic.  The cell and cloud cleared off to the N and I was out playing in the hail and taking photos and video of the cell which displayed some great structure with the flanking line and anvil and mammatus.  What a day!  With t he hail cover, the temperature was hovering between 1C and 1.5C.  Another cell was brewing down to the SW but I was intent on heading up to Kinglake for another check of conditions. 

I headed off from here only to make it half way down the lookout road and Robert Goler was heading up to the lookout in the other direction.  A quick U-turn saw Robert and I meet for a 3rd time of unexpected chaser convergence within six months.  We headed back up to the top to watch the next hailshower come through.  This one was a little different with sleet starting straight away and within a few minutes, big, fat snow flakes became mixed in with the sleet.  Intermittently, the snow would take over totally as these flakes just floated down on the breeze - sometimes lasting nearly a minute.  The ground was far to wet for it to settle yet it was still very clod as the hail from the previous shower (over an hour before now) was still piled up in corners and on the grass.  The snow and sleet stopped again and Robert and I headed up to Kinglake via Yarra Glen.  It was only 4.5C here and were hoping for some more hail or sleet action.  We got some lunch here at about 3pm and as we were about to leave a big flurry of snow pellets (though I'll call it sleet) fell for about 30 seconds followed by some more traditional sleet.  After another call to Anthony, we decided to head back down to the eastern suburbs and then out to Mt Donna Buang.  On the way a quick stop at Yarra Glen saw us in another hail shower.  It was getting a little late for me (I'm supposed to be studying today) so I turned back and headed home (again via Kinglake - hoping for more sleet or hail) and Robert continued up to Mt Donna Buang.  I neared Yan Yean on my way home and saw a nice little Cb to my west and I couldn't resist.  I pulled another u-turn and headed N for a bit before heading W to intercept.  I drove into the rain and hail and then sat under a nice little updraft base which was fairly turbulent and interesting.  Hail kept falling for most of this time. The cell eventually moved out of chasing range and I watched as it moved away showing some nice structure and a chunky lowered base.  I think it was my 6th hail encounter for the day.  I also encountered sleet 3 times, 4 rumbles of thunder with 2 being flangs ..... and a partridge in a pear tree. 

Looking forward to hearing from Robert Goler to find out what he saw up the mountain.

From left to right:

Cold air Cb with a fairly solid anvil.  This was taken from Mordialloc looking SE.

Melbourne microhail reaches torrential proportions.

Hail drifts against the railway sleeper in the carpark and the road was totally covered.

From left to right:

Flanking line and Cb after it had passed over me.  Looking NW.

SNOWING!!!!!!!!!

Cb near Eden Park (outer N suburbs of Melbourne)