Wet and windy in SW WA
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| Minimum (above) and maximum (below) temperature departures from normal today BoM |
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For the fifth day in a row, temperatures 6 to 8° above normal have occurred over a wide area of Central and Western Australia. Today, records for July top temperatures were broken at Roebourne and Pannawonica in WA's north (see box below) as both day and night time temperatures stayed at levels more usual in mid autumn or spring. The unusual spell of warmth has been caused by a prolonged stream of northwesterly winds over the northern half of Western Australia and into southern NT and northern SA. Slow-moving, deep low pressure systems off the southern WA coast have given the state's southwest a taste of winter westerlies, but a succession of fronts moving around their northern flanks have ducted the warmer air over the continent from the northwest.
Fronts crossing southwestern WA early this morning and again this evening produced some heavy falls in the ranges east of Perth and to the south of the city. In the 24 hours to 9 this morning, Mundaring recorded the nation's top fall of 54.2mm, and Pickering Brook, Roleystone and Bickley 35mm -- all in an arc about 25km to the east to SE of Perth City. Fairbridge, near Pinjarra, 75km south of Perth, recorded 45.2mm. In the following 24 hours to 9am Tuesday, the Perth suburb of Melville, about 5km NE of Fremantle, recorded an isolated high fall of 74.2mm bringing its 3-day total to 106.4mm. Gale force winds continued all day around the southwest coast, with Cape Leeuwin recording a top 10-minute average windspeed of 85km/h at 8.47am.
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