Melbourne bathes in warmth: Melbourne, Adelaide, Perth and Hobart all under 100mm for the first time in history

For the first time in recorded history, none of Australia's southern capital cities have reached 100 millimeters of rainfall.

Since the start of 2019, Melbourne has received just 77mm of rainfall compared to Adelaide on 80.6 mm, Perth with 75.2 mm and Hobart on 93.8mm.

Melbourne's water catchments today dropped to 50 per cent - the lowest level since October 2010.

Unseasonably warm weather has also hit Melbourne the the city being bathed in pre-winter warmth with a run of eight days above 20C.

Temperatures are tipped to hover above 20C until Sunday when a cooler change will sweep the state causing temperatures to dip to 16C, according to the Bureau of Meteorology Senior Forecaster Rod Dickson.

“It is a little bit unusual to have such an extended warm spell this late in May,” Mr Dickson said but added that “it's not unprecedented for May” with the state having “long stretches of days in the 20s before."

"But it is a little bit unusual as we head towards late May. Runs above 20 are pretty common through the first half of the month, but they're usually not more than a couple days in a row in the second half of May," he said.

A weak rainband moved from the west of the state, with parts of south-west Victoria seeing 9mm fall. Melbourne saw falls of less than 1 millimetre this morning, with the band having little effect on the balmy conditions.

It should be the last rainfall in Victoria until the weekend, drawing out what has been the driest start to the year in Melbourne on record.  

These rainfall totals are in the lowest 10 per cent on record for all cities, a Bureau of Meterology Spokesperson said.

The next rainfall expected for Victoria doesn’t look to be before Sunday, when another low-pressure system is expected to reach south-eastern Australia. The news is not so good for East Gippsland, likely to miss out on any significant fall.