Perth shivers through coldest day in 50 years as residents marvel at rain, hail

Perth has shivered through its coldest day in 50 years, recording a maximum of just 11.4C on Monday.

It has not been since July 29, 1975 (when the maximum was also 11.4C) that the temperature in Perth has stayed so low during the day, with the city also copping a lashing from rain and hail.

It is also the coldest August day ever recorded at the Perth weather station in Mt Lawley, with the previous lowest maximum in August being 12.1C in 2020.

Meteorologist Grace Abbott said the frosty weather was down to a cold front moving over land.

“We had a cold front move over the State yesterday morning and behind that cold front we’ve seen a very cold air mass coming up from the South West,” she said.

“That’s helped drop those temperatures over much of the South West Land division today.”

Perth has also had a very wet month, with nearly 170mm of rain falling so far — almost 50mm more than the monthly average and just 16mm away from the August record.

And it hasn’t just been rain falling, with hail coating much of the city too.

Palmyra resident Amanda Tweddle said it was by far the most hail she had seen since moving to the suburb in 2019.

“There was plenty of hail all over the neighbouring rooftops and covering the roads, but there doesn’t seem to be any damage to any homes near me thankfully,” she said.

“I went to get photos and videos around 8.15 this morning, there was just so much!”

While some may have been surprised by seeing ice around them, commercial ice supplier Len Tarapacz is well accustomed to it.

Mr Tarapacz is the owner of Eco Ice Australia, he said the weather on Monday meant it was particularly hard to get a break from the cold while hauling bags of ice inside.

“It’s normally cold when you go in the freezer so normally your hands don’t work as well when you’re in the freezer for long periods,” he said.

“Normally you come outside to get a bit of a break out in the out in the open air but it was so cold, but your hands don’t really get a break.”

Meanwhile, the Weather Bureau is predicting the daytime weather was likely to warm up before the end of the week.

“We will have a high pressure ridge move in and so therefore we’re going to start to see a gradual warming of our maximum temperatures,” Ms Abbott said.

“However, the minimum temperatures are going to remain about that 5-6C mark in Perth.

“Essentially, just a couple more sunnier days from Thursday or Friday onwards.”