Horsham dad Mick Parish runs a computer repair business out of his home on the northern fringe of Horsham, a large town of 16,000 residents in western Victoria's Wimmera district.

But he might have to spend the next couple of days fixing his fence instead of firewalls after what is believed to be a tornado ripped through northern Horsham overnight.

"I was asleep in bed when I woke at 1 am to what sounded like a truck coming through the house," Parish told Weatherzone.

"It was really windy and really noisy and there was bugger all rain - though what rain we had came in really big drops. The whole thing only lasted probably three or four minutes. It just ripped through."

Image: This Horsham tree scored a six-and-out for going over the fence. Source: Mick Parish.

Parish lost some of his fence in the storm. A drive around his neighbourhood in the light of day revealed uprooted trees flung into neighbouring yards, and extensive roof damage on numerous houses.

"One guy lost all the tiles off his roof and the air conditioner as well. I've got no idea where it ended up," Parish added.

Image: A rough night on the tiles in Horsham. Source: Mick Parish.

So was this a tornado or just a severe thunderstorm?

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson told the ABC that while it could just have been a very strong downburst of wind, the narrow path of damage across just a few streets made a tornado "a bit more plausible".

Weatherzone meteorologist Ben Domensino said tornadoes are small columns of violently rotating air that form beneath a thunderstorm. They typically form below supercell thunderstorms, which are powerful rotating storms that have strong updrafts.

"Tornadoes can happen in Australia at any time of year and we usually see dozens reported across the country each year," Domensino said.

We may never know for sure because this storm – whatever it was – struck in the middle of the night.

But we know from locals like Mick Parish that it was absolutely terrifying, and that residents will be mopping up for weeks to come.

Image: 'It just ripped through.' Source: Mick Parish.

Meanwhile the weather in Horsham this afternoon is unseasonably cool with temperatures tipped to peak around 18 degrees, and west-southwesterly winds around 30 km/h, with the strongest gust so far today of 61 km/h at 12:30 pm.

The strongest gust at the official BoM weather station at Horsham Aerodrome around the time of the storm was a relatively moderate 50 km/h.

Horsham Aerodrome is located just a few kilometres north of the streets with most damage. The lack of extreme winds at the local airstrip emphasises just how localised this storm was – and further supports the theory that this may indeed have been a tornado.