Perth weather: City to expect severe weather event over WA Day long weekend seen ‘once or twice a year’

Perth residents are being warned to brace for potential “severe” weather this Sunday and public holiday Monday, with a wet weather event expected to descend on the city that typically occurs “once or twice a year”.

Jessica Lingard of the Bureau of Meterology said the first signs of rain in the city’s metro area would likely hit Wednesday afternoon and impact “school pick up time, peak hour traffic home time”.

“Today and tonight are probably likely to be the heaviest rainfall, and then there will still be a fair amount of rainfall around, especially tomorrow morning,” the meteorologist told PerthNow.

“Then Friday is likely to be a bit of a quieter day, but there are still going to be some showers around.”

Those with outdoor long weekend plans may wish to reconsider or plan accordingly, with a cloud band developing on Saturday to bring further showers before a “more significant cold front” arrives on Sunday.

“Sunday’s front is the type of front that we probably only see once or twice a year. So, this one does have the potential to have some severe weather associated with it, and that could be in terms of damaging wind gusts and also the potential for some heavy rainfall,” Ms Lingard added.

She said it was likely warnings would be issued for Sunday’s weather system as it approaches, with Monday’s public holiday expected to continue the trend of the wet long weekend.

It is likely rain will linger around Perth’s metro area up to Wednesday.

Ms Lingard appreciated that an extended period of rain may feel jarring following a largely dry May, but that the approaching weather was typical for this time of year.

Residents connecting a string of downpours in recent years to the timing of this annual long weekend have made the same observation as the Bureau, though Ms Lingard teased it was “just a coincidence” and that such conditions were not abnormally timed.

With less than a week before winter, Perth is 20ml away from reaching its average rainfall average for autumn.

However, much of that was the result of tropical cyclone Narelle, which delivered more than three times March’s average metro rainfall.

April recorded slightly above average rainfall, while May has seen just 11.8ml to date — significantly below its mean of 85.5ml.

Ms Lingard suggested approaching weather did not foreshadow a wetter than usual winter.

“The outlook for the season is for drier than normal conditions,” she said.

“That doesn’t mean we’re not going to get rain, and that doesn’t mean that we’re not going to see periods of heavy rain. It just means that generally averaged across the season. It is likely to be below average.”

PERTH WEATHER FORECAST

• Thursday: Showers easing, 12-21 ☔️
• Friday: Shower, 10-19 ☔️
• Saturday: Showers increasing, 7-21 ☔️
• Sunday: Showers, becoming windy 11-20 ☔️
• Monday: Showers, 11-18 ☔️
• Tuesday: Showers, 9-18 ☔️
• Wednesday: Showers, 8-18 ☔️

Forecast sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology.