Today will be mostly cloudy with a high (80%) chance of showers, becoming less likely late this afternoon and evening.

Winds will be west to north-westerly 35 to 50 km/h decreasing to 25 to 35 km/h in the evening.

At 7.30am in Warrnambool it was 7.7 degrees, felt like 0.9 and we have had 27.4mm on rain since 9am Wednesday.

It's hovered near zero throughout the night.

Warrnambool is expecting a top temperature of 14 degrees, Hamilton 12, Colac 11, Ararat 13, Casterton 14, Mortlake 12, Heywood 13, Portland 13, Port Fairy 13, Terang 11 and Camperdown 11.

A westerly airflow will continue across the state today with a front expected to pass through Bass Strait.

Damaging west to north-westerly winds averaging 60 to 70km/h with peak gusts of 90km/h are likely near the coast today and also over elevated areas (above 800 metres) across parts of southern and eastern Victoria, including the Grampians, the Otway Ranges and Strzelecki Ranges.

While some easing is expected this evening, winds are likely to increase again during Friday.

Locations which may be affected include Warrnambool, Wonthaggi, Morwell, Traralgon, Sale and Moe.

Strongest winds gusts up to 4.30am Thursday included: 124km/h at Mt Hotham at 12.53am, 119km/h at Mt William at 6.36pm, 106km/h at Casterton at 6.10pm, 106km/h at Horsham at 7.32pm and 102km/h at Cape Nelson at 8.14pm.

The State Emergency Service advises that people should:

There's also a gale marine wind warning and a sheep graziers alert.

Sheep graziers are warned that low temperatures, showers and fresh to strong west to north-westerly winds are expected during Thursday and Friday.

Areas likely to be affected include the south-west, Wimmera, Northern Country, North Central, North East, Central and West and South Gippsland forecast districts and parts of the Mallee and East Gippsland forecast districts.

There is a risk of losses of lambs and sheep exposed to these conditions.

The cold front that crossed Victoria last night is now over the Tasman Sea.

A weaker front embedded is a strong westerly airflow will pass across Bass Strait today, with a stronger cold front will follow on Friday.

On the weekend a large high pressure system will move over the Bight and further cold fronts are expected to move from the Southern Ocean across Tasmania, with a cool south-westerly airstream persisting across Victoria.

For the next seven days Warrnambool is expecting showers and between 11 and 13 degree tops, with Wednesday and Thursday next week 14 degrees.

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