Thunderstorms, hail, damaging winds mark WA weather forecast for much of the week
Wet weather is forecast for much of Western Australia, as the last month spring gets underway. (ABC News: Jack Stevenson)
In short:
Severe weather is forecast for much of Western Australia this week, with parts of the state to experience thunderstorms, heavy rain and hail.
The weather is due to trough and low-pressure system off the west coast, which earlier this week delivered warm and sunny conditions.
What's next?
Areas south of Carnarvon could receive up to 50 millimetres of rain over the next two days, before the weather clears.
The last month of spring has delivered a mixed bag of weather for Western Australia so far, with balmy nights to merge into thunderstorms and light shows in the coming days.
Lightning storms began to hit areas south of Perth from early Tuesday morning, alongside a band of patchy showers.
There was a short pause to the storms during the day before they fired off again overnight, this time with a bit more strength.
WA has seen some spectacular lightning strikes over the past 24 hours. (Supplied: Katie Anne Thoars)
What's causing the stormy weather?
Before we get to the culprit of the stormy weather, we have to rewind a few days.
Over the weekend, a trough developed down the west coast, which brought on beautiful warm conditions for large parts of the state.
One thing to note about troughs is that the eastern side of a trough line is a really good spot for thunderstorm development, and on Monday, we saw the end of our sunny run as a low-pressure system formed within that line.
Thunderstorms and damaging winds are forecast for much of Western Australia in the coming days. (Supplied: Bureau of Meteorology)
While the system stayed offshore on Tuesday, satellite imagery showed it spinning a spiral of cloud, showers and thunderstorms across parts of WA.
But as it started to move onshore in a south-easterly direction overnight, the weather situation amplified, triggering more showers and thunderstorms.
What areas are at risk?
While some places across WA's southern half got a taste of the action yesterday, the thunderstorm outlook for Wednesday covers a much broader area — almost two-thirds of the state.
Meteorologist Jessica Lingard said the areas likely to see severe storms were further away from the coast, extending from around the eastern hills of Perth, up into the Central Wheatbelt, Great Southern, and into the Goldfields and parts of the South Interior district.
Storms are forecast for almost two-thirds of the state. (ABC News)
"The main risk across those areas is for heavy rainfall, but the Goldfields and the South Interior could also see some damaging wind gusts," she said.
"There are also parts of the Wheatbelt and Goldfields which could see large hailstones.
"This isn't a guarantee, but it is just a watch point because obviously this is very inconvenient timing for farmers trying to harvest their crops."
The Bureau of Meteorology has issued a strong wind warning for the Ningaloo, Gascoyne, Geraldton, Perth, Bunbury Geographe, Leeuwin and Eucla coasts.
How much rainfall?
If you're keeping an eye on the rainfall radar, it may look like there's been a lot of rainfall.
However, the rain gauges would make you second-guess that.
Ms Lingard said that was due to the bases of the thunderstorms sitting higher up in the sky, causing them to feel more humid.
Jessica Lingard says hail is possible for parts of the state. (ABC News: Tabarak Al Jrood)
"These are mid-level thunderstorms, and so as a result, most of that rainfall that is falling is evaporating into the atmosphere before it gets a chance to hit a rain gauge," she said.
As the trough and low-pressure cell move south-east on Wednesday, the mugginess will ease, allowing more rainfall to hit the ground.
The rain will be quite patchy depending on how and where those thunderstorms fall, but totals up to 50mm or more between Tuesday and Thursday night aren't out of the question for some areas south of Carnarvon.
In between those storms, rainfall totals will likely be in the single digits, while some spots may miss out completely.
Areas south of Carnarvon could receive up to 50mm of rain. (ABC News)
In terms of Perth, the metro managed to stay fairly clear yesterday with only an odd rumble around and a couple of light drizzles.
But just five days into November, Perth now has recorded more rainfall than for the whole of November 2024, bumped up by that storm activity from Tuesday night into Wednesday morning.
Perth now has a total of 11.6mm for November this year after recording 7.2mm in the gauge in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday.
Last year, the metro gauge collected a total of 10.4mm of rainfall across November.
However, rainfall totals for Perth remain below the average figure of 24.2mm and the 2020 record of 92mm.
Elsewhere, Bulga Downs, Gin Gin and Windy Harbour all had more than 10mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday, while Cape Leeuwin recorded 15.8mm and Paynes Find 15mm.
Other locations across the state received rainfall amounts in the single digits, including 5mm in Kalbarri and 5.2mm at Busselton Airport.
What's next on the forecast?
We won't have to wait too long for conditions to clear as the low moves to the south-east and away from the country by Thursday.
The wet weather is expected to clear by the end of the week. (ABC News: James Carmody)
It will leave behind a trail of showers along the south-eastern coastline, but the rest of the state can expect to see more settled weather as our next ridge of high-pressure forms over the southern half.
So while West Australians can expect to enjoy sunny spring conditions this weekend, the stormy system is set to bring another round of wet weather to an already drenched east coast.
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