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Melbourne chilly but clearing for AFL Grand Final

Anthony Sharwood

The 2022 AFL Grand Final between the Sydney Swans and Geelong Cats should be played in cool but mostly fine conditions at the MCG on Saturday, as the Melbourne weather clears – hopefully in time for the bounce at 2:30 pm.

There's a strong likelihood of wet weather around Melbourne on Friday as a trough and front crosses Victoria. You know the old saying, "rain on your parade"? Well, the traditional Friday AFL Grand Final Parade could indeed be a soggy affair.

But the weather should start to clear on Saturday as a high pressure ridge moves in behind the front. The question is how quickly.

We're writing this story on the Tuesday afternoon before the grand final, and at this point in time, it looks like some showers could still be lingering around on Saturday morning.

But if grand final day dawns grey and gloomy and you're heading to the game or even just planning a backyard barbie in Melbourne, don't panic. Skies should definitely clear by the final siren, and as mentioned, there's a decent chance of persistent sunshine from the bounce onwards.

As for temperatures, it will be fairly chilly

  • Cooler southwesterly winds will restrict the top to just 14°C on Saturday, after a string of 20-degree days to round out the working week.
  • Melbourne's average September max is 17.3°C.

This is the first AFL Grand Final to be held in Melbourne since 2019, with the 2020 decider moved to Brisbane and the 2021 season finale in Perth due to the Covid pandemic.

Both were held in dry conditions although torrential rain fell before the 2020 match in Brisbane, in what was the AFL's first night-time grand final.

How wet has Melbourne been this month to date?

  • Melbourne has so far seen rain of 12 of 20 days in September 2022 (the monthly average is 10.4).
  • The average total September rainfall at the city's Olympic Park weather station (just across the railway tracks from the MCG) is 58 mm.
  • A total of 40.6 has been registered in the gauge so far this month, in what to date has been a fairly typical September.

As for the winner of the game, we predict a deluge of goals from... sorry, we're weather people, not sports pundits!

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