Ben McBurney, 28 Feb 2015, 7:34 PM UTC
Damaging storm front sweeps through Melbourne
A vicious thunderstorm line associated with destructive wind gusts lashed Melbourne and surrounding suburbs last night, causing widespread power outages and damage.
The line of thunderstorms fired up along a cold front, which quickly became intense with the help of dry air aloft and strong wind shear.
The thunderstorms first hit western parts of Melbourne just prior to sunset, before making their way to the east about an hour late.
Widespread damaging to destructive wind gusts were experienced, reaching 131 km/h at Fawkner Beacon, 128 km/h at St Kilda, 126 km/h at Melton and 122 km/h at Melbourne airport.
The winds caused power outages to more than 20,000 homes, while there were reports of trees and powerlines being brought down.
Sadly, a young boy was killed as a large tree fell on a house in the Dandenong Ranges.
The storms also brought a rapid drop in temperature, as much as 10 degrees in 5 minutes.
The remainder of the weekend will be much more settled and quite cool, reaching a maximum of about 20 degrees under partly cloudy skies and brisk southerly winds.
Note to media: You are welcome to republish text from the above news article as direct quotes from Weatherzone. When doing so, please reference www.weatherzone.com.au in the credit.