THE city's popular Ladies and Tradies racing day will go ahead despite heavy rainfall throughout Thursday, organisers said.
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Warrnambool Racing Club track manager Daniel Lumsden said he was confident the track will hold up for Friday's jam-packed day.
"We had a good bit of rainfall on Thursday morning and the track is still in good nick," he said.
"This is only our second race back from a six-week break so it's fresh ground, the track is looking good.
"Fingers crossed the rain stops as the races start."
It's the first time the event has been held on a Friday after typically coinciding with Flemington's Oaks Day event.
"While it's not a new event, it kind of is in a way being held on a Friday for the first time," Mr Lumsden continued.
"It means punters only really have to take half a day off, rather than a day and a half.
"So come along to the races, it will be great day."
Friday's forecast in Warrnambool is windy and showers, with a top of 14 degrees and a low of seven degrees and a 70 per cent chance of rain easing off in the afternoon.
The first seven days of November have seen 17.8mm of total rainfall in Warrnambool, 40.4mm in Portland and 21mm in Hamilton.
October saw a total of 71.6mm in Warrnambool, a significant increase (76 per cent) on the same time last year which saw 40.6 mm of rainfall. There was 81 per cent more rain in Portland in October compared to the previous year (26.6mm to 48.2mm) and 24 per cent more in Hamilton (28.6mm to 35.6mm).
Bureau of Meteorology senior forecaster Michael Efron said it wasn't an unusual weather pattern for this time of the year.
"It's certainly not unusual for this time of year given our cold oceans to the south-west, any system coming from that region does tend to bring very cold air across the state, so we do tend to see these fronts pushing through during spring across Victoria," he said.
"Over the next three days we are looking at totals of 50-70mm, people should keep an eye on the bureau's website for any warnings.
"Unfortunately this weekend we are looking at those cooler and wetter conditions but Monday we are looking at much more settled weather."
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