The region sweltered through its warmest May day on record at multiple weather stations, before temperatures crashed back to more normal winter temperatures within weeks.
Shepparton led the headlines, recording 27.4°C on May 1, the hottest May day the town has seen since Bureau of Meteorology records began there in 1965.
The previous record of 27°C had stood since 2005.
The heat extended into the night, with the overnight low of 16.6°C recorded on May 3 also setting a new mark for the town's warmest May night, eclipsing the 16°C recorded in 1995.
Kyabram, Yarrawonga, Echuca and Seymour all recorded their hottest May day for the year on the same date, with Echuca reaching 27.7°C, Kyabram 27.3°C, Yarrawonga 27.1°C and Seymour 26.1°C, all on May 7.
Kyabram's record beat a mark set just 12 months earlier, in May 2025, by 0.2°C.
Seymour's record also toppled a 2025 high, by just 0.1°C.
Yarrawonga's warmest night, 16.7°C on May 3, equalled a record set in 2019 rather than breaking it.
Benalla's high of 25.1°C on May 1 rounded out a region-wide warm spell to open the month.
The heat did not last.
By May 7, most towns had recorded their coldest daytime maximums of the month, with Seymour, Yarrawonga and Kyabram all topping out at about 13°C that day.
Shepparton's coldest night came on May 22, when the mercury fell to 2.7°C, while Benalla recorded its lowest overnight temperature of 2.1°C on May 21.
Rainfall for the month was closer to average at most stations, though Seymour stood out as a significant exception.
The town recorded 83mm for the month, nearly double its historical May average of 42.5mm.
The largest single-day fall of 21.2mm was on May 4.
Shepparton's 33.4mm sat just below its 30-year average of 34.3mm, while Kyabram recorded 43mm against an average of 41.1mm.
Benalla received 47.7mm compared to its average of 45.4mm, and Echuca 41.2mm against a historical average of 40.2mm.
Yarrawonga's 34.6mm was also close to its long-term figure of 35.4mm.
In Kyabram, more than half the month's rainfall, 22.2mm, fell in a single 24-hour period on May 18.
11°C