Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Richard Russell said Melbourne had experienced a wet and windy day, crawling to a top temperature of just 13.1 degrees.

"But it has obviously been a bitterly cold wind and significant rainfall totals in parts of Melbourne."

A deluge in the city's north dumped 45mm of rain at Melbourne Airport between midnight and 5pm, while city guages collected 22mm across the same period.

Mr Russell said showers would continue through Sunday evening, particularly in the city's west, then ease on Sunday night before returning on Monday afternoon.

"By the middle of the week we will be back to those cold and frosty mornings."

While Sunday's wet conditions put a dampener on the city, they were welcomed with pleasure in Victoria's alpine resorts.

The resorts have been left more than knee-deep in snow, only a week into the official start of the ski season.

Mount Hotham has recorded the deepest snow depth in 18 years for mid-June; other resorts have recorded their best snow depth in almost two decades.

"We're at a season total of 75 centimetres, in the last seven days we've had 65 centimetres, which is similar to the three large storms last year," Mount Hotham's Alyson Lamb said.

"This is the deepest snowpack/snow depth we have had [in June] since the year 2000. We are now pushing a base of 62 centimetres."

"It’s an amazing start, I’m looking out my window right now and it looks like it's Japan."

Last year, the snowfields had the best snow they'd seen in 17 years and Ms Lamb said this year was shaping up to be just as good.

"It’s amazing to see two back-to-back seasons with so much snow, we’re not there yet but it's definitely a good start."

Further falls across Sunday lifted the season total to just shy of 80 centimetres by late afternoon.

With 50 centimetres at Mt Buller, the mountain is already opening ski lifts because of the extra snow cover.

"People are thrilled to see winter arrive so suddenly," Mt Buller spokesperson Rhylla Morgan said.

"In the last couple of days it’s really been a season starter in that everything is covered now. We have snow all the way down into the valley today so people will need to be taking it very carefully on the way up," she said.

Even Lake Mountain is recording heavy snow. With 30 centimetres on the ground, the toboggan and cross-country ski runs are open.

Lake Mountain spokesperson Rosemary O’Reilly said Marysville had also recorded heavy snowfall earlier than usual.

"This is a much heavier fall earlier in the year, that’s a really nice start for them down there," she said.

"It’s quite unusual for this time of year, we usually get heavier falls more in July/August, so this is a really good start for the season."