Oaks Day became Soaks Day as heavy rain drenched Flemington, while residents in the state's far north were forced to run for cover as the roofs were ripped from their homes by a severe squall.

Seven years ago, former premier John Brumby warned Victorians to brace themselves for more extreme weather events.

Speaking after a freak storm claimed two lives in 2008, Mr Brumby told Victorians to brace for more unpredictable, wild weather, which he said would only be worsened by the effects of climate change.

"Unfortunately we probably will see more of this type of event in the future," Mr Brumby said.

"A lot of people focus on temperature and rainfall, but the reality is one of the things which is changing is wind.

"As the wind speed gets up, the wind damage increases at a much faster rate."

From fierce heatwaves and bushfires to storms and tornados and snow, Victoria's weather is as dangerous and volatile as it is beautiful.

Here are some of the more significant weather events to occur in recent memory:

Tullamarine tornado November 6, 2015

Photo: Chris Stone

The Bureau of Meteorology issued a tornado warning for Melbourne on Thursday afternoon. Indeed, what was believed to be a tornado hit Melbourne's outer-northern suburbs of Tullamarine, Craigieburn and Campbellfield between 1.30pm and 2pm. It's believed the tornado touched down very briefly, where there were no houses, fortunately causing no damage. But the storm that accompanied the twister caused flash flooding across the city and brought down trees and powerlines. The State Emergency Service received 200 calls for help.

Storm chaser Chris Stone took a photo of what appeared to be the tornado at Tullamarine, but it could not be verified by the bureau.

Nathalia tornado November 1, 2015 

Photo: Anne Crichton

Another tornado hit Victoria, this time in an area in the state's far north that is loosely dubbed Tornado Alley. It touched down in Nathalia, near the Victoria-NSW border, and was captured by resident Anne Crichton. The tornado was part of a severe squall line, which produced widespread, destructive winds over southern NSW and northern Victoria. Up to 10 homes in the Victorian town of Strathmerton lost their roofs - three were left uninhabitable.

Christmas Day tornado December 25, 2011

Photo: Michael Nardella

Melbourne itself is no stranger to tornados. The temperature soared to 30 degrees on Christmas Day in 2011, but just as Melburnians were digesting their festive lunch, a tornado began developing over the town of Fiskville. Within 30 minutes it had travelled 75 kilometres and touched down in Keilor Downs, on Melbourne's north-western fringe. The tornado caused little damage, but the storm that accompanied it hammered the city.

The skies exploded over Melbourne, as lightning strikes, loud cracks of thunder, torrential rain and hailstones the size of cricket balls belted the city. Melbourne Airport was closed, 20,000 homes were blacked out and the SES received more than 2000 calls for help – that was Christmas Day in Melbourne.

Melbourne dust storm February 8, 1983

Photo: Fairfax Archives

The dust storm of 1983 turned Melbourne's summer day into night. The freak meteorological event saw thousands of tonnes of black-brown topsoil stripped from the Mallee and Wimmera districts and carried by strong winds across the state. About 1000 tonnes of dirt and dust descended upon Melbourne just before 3pm, accompanied by a rapid drop in temperature and a fierce wind change that uprooted trees and damages houses. Within minutes, visibility in the capital had plunged to 100 metres.

City workers huddled in doorways, covering their mouths from the choking dust, and traffic came to a standstill. Planes were grounded and 100,000 homes were blacked out. "City chokes in heat and dust," declared The Age front page, the following day.

The dust storm was one of the most dramatic consequences of the 1982/83 drought and is, in hindsight, viewed as a precursor to the Ash Wednesday bushfires, which were to occur eight days later.

Ash Wednesday bushfires February 16, 1983

Photo: John Lamb

Before Black Saturday, these were Australia's worst fires. Years of severe drought and extreme weather combined to create a deadly ring of fire around Melbourne. More than 75 people died, 2500 homes were razed, more than 50,000 cows and sheep were killed, and hundreds of thousands of hectares of land scorched. There were 180 fires in Victoria. Many of the fatalities were close to the city, in Macedon, Cockatoo and the Dandenongs.

The great irony was the fires fell on the first day of Lent known as Ash Wednesday, which for Christians heralds a period of sacrifice. The church's ritual of marking a cross from ash on the foreheads of worshippers comes from the famous Biblical passage in Genesis about dust and ashes and how everything and everyone will eventually return to those things.

Black Saturday bushfires February 7, 2009

The worst in the nation's history, the Black Saturday bushfires claimed 173 lives, injured 414, and razed entire towns, destroying more than 2000 homes.

Searing winds and temperatures, followed by a southerly wind change, created a firestorm of unbelievable force. More than 7500 people were displaced when Victorian townships, including Marysville, Kinglake, Kinglake West, Narbethong, Flowerdale and Strathewen, were devastated. 

Hail storm March 6, 2010

The storm of March 6, 2010, went down in history as one of the worst to hit Melbourne. It was the day hail stones the size of lemons – large lemons – belted the city from about 3pm, along with torrential rain.

Part of the roof of Southern Cross Station collapsed, sending torrents of water onto platforms and tracks. Water poured down seven levels of The Age's Media House when hail punched through two sky lights. Surreal scenes unfolded as cars ground to a halt in the city and on the West Gate Freeway.

Flinders Street, Chapel Street and St Kilda Road flooded, and the Australia Cup race meet at Flemington was abandoned. More than 100,000 homes in Melbourne were blacked out, while 11 were left uninhabitable. 

Ex-tropical cyclone Pancho April 2, 2008

Photo: Angela Wylie

Two people were killed and dozens more injured when the remnants of ex-tropical cyclone Pancho tore through Melbourne. Fierce winds that reached speeds of up to 130 km/h and heavy rain caused widespread destruction and commuter chaos Melbourne. The SES was overwhelmed with 4000 calls for help, as the winds brought down trees, powerlines and ripped roofs from houses. At one point, they took a call every four seconds.

A 57-year-old woman was killed when a wall fell on her in a laneway in Florence Street, Mentone, while a 48-year-old construction worker was killed when scaffolding collapsed in Dandenong. Nearly 200,000 homes and businesses were blacked out and all Metro train lines were severely affected. One train was struck by lightning at Canterbury. Traffic was restricted for up to three hours on two of Melbourne's key arteries, the West Gate and Bolte bridges.

Heatwave January 14 – 17, 2014

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The heatwave arrived just as the Australian Open entered its fourth day. Melbourne recorded temperatures over 41 degrees for the next four days. The mercury hit 45 degrees, before there was a cool change.

As the mercury rose, matches at the Open were suspended and nearly 1000 tennis fans were treated for heat exhaustion. Canadian player Frank Dancevic fainted during the second set of his first-round match and later claimed he had hallucinated and seen the comic character Snoopy, while Frenchman Jo-Wilfried Tsonga thought his shoes were sticking to the court and Danish star Caroline Wozniacki said her water bottle started to melt.

Outside Melbourne Park, ambulance paramedics attended 400 heat exposure cases. People also started suffering heart attacks under the stress of the heat - at one stage, paramedics were dealing with a heart attack every six minutes. Meanwhile, firefighters battled 30 bushfires across the state. The power grid struggled to cope with demand, as air-conditioners went into overdrive. Thousands were left without power due to local and staged blackouts.