Victoria was in the grip of drought when Melbourne was smothered by a giant dust storm blown in from the mallee deserts during the afternoon of Tuesday 8 February 1983.
Earlier in the morning a strong, but dry, cold front began crossing Victoria, preceded by hot, gusty northerly winds.
The temperature in the city rose quickly as the north wind strengthened, and by 2:35 pm it had reached 43.2 degrees.
The 300 metre high dust cloud stretched over 500 km from Mildura to Melbourne and extended on a 150 km wide front.
It reached the city by 2.55 pm and the sky went black.
Winds of up to 140 km/h were reported at Point Lonsdale while at Mornington, gusts reached 100 km/h. In the city, winds reached 85 km/h.
The storm cut power, damaged houses, uprooted trees, disrupted train services and ripped boats from moorings.
The worst of the dust storm was over by 4 pm when the wind dropped as the cool change arrived. There was no rain and everything was covered in a layer of dust.
But more significantly, the exact weather pattern that caused the dust storm, with high temperatures and strong northwest winds followed by a strong southwest change, was repeated eight days later during the catastrophic Ash Wednesday bushfires.
Top Image: Australia Bureau of Meteorology/Photographer: Trevor Farrar
Victoria’s Forests & Bushfire Heritage 