The latest Bureau of Meteorology predictions give Melbourne a less than 40 per cent chance of receiving average rainfall through April, May and June.

The dry outlook is shared across central Victoria, while predictions are worse for western Victoria and the north-east around King River — which have a 35 per cent chance of average rainfall.

Only East Gippsland is expected to get average falls in the next three months.

The forecasts put a dampener on the rain that Melbourne has enjoyed over the past week, with close to 18 millimetres recorded at the city gauge and closer to 25 millimetres recorded over the weekend near Melbourne's dams.

But Bureau spokesman Grant Beard said those falls merely put the city on track to achieve the monthly average.

"It's what you would term a 'reasonable' or 'average' start to the month of April," he said.

Melbourne's drinking water storages dropped over the weekend despite the rains, showing how little water is reaching dams because of the dry conditions across catchments, which need to be "wet" before run-off will flow to dams.

The predictions are bad news for ailing Victorian rivers such as the Murray, which endured its lowest-ever inflows in February, and the Yarra.