WA endures freezing, wet July with promise of more wild weather to come

Australia Broadcast Center

a day ago

If you found yourself blasting the heater or reaching for the electric blanket more than usual this July, that's because it was one of the coldest and wettest months WA has experienced in recent memory.
A string of strong cold fronts delivered record low temperatures, above-average rainfall, and even a rare tornado to mark the second month of winter.
The state saw three of those fronts move through south-west WA consecutively in one week.
The last of the three, which crossed on July 27, brought widespread showers and thunderstorms, with some areas cementing new rainfall records.
Perth experienced its wettest day in more than a year in the 24 hours to 9am on Monday, recording 41 millimetres.
It saw the city surpass its monthly average rainfall for July, with just under 175mm reported, compared to the average of 147mm.
However, since the Mt Lawley gauge went down earlier this month, it can be estimated that another 20mm fell in the city, based on nearby stations.
Nearby Swanbourne reported 54mm over the same 24-hour period, the site's highest daily rainfall in two years.
Jurien Bay managed to pick up just under 29mm, bringing the town's July total to a healthy 208.6mm, nearly double its monthly average.
Meanwhile, Busselton Aero received 286mm this July, more than double the average and the town's wettest month in 30 years.
Rain also cut off access to Gracetown, about 270 kilometres south of Perth, after the main road was completely submerged, while earlier this month, more than 120mm was dumped in Busselton in 24 hours, causing flash flooding.
This season so far follows a similar pattern to last year, when much of southern WA recorded well below average rainfall for June, before a stretch of consecutive fronts boosted totals from around mid-July.
As those fronts swept through WA, they left behind a lingering pool of cold air, which sent temperatures tumbling last month.
Perth drivers found themselves scraping frost off their windscreens, as some suburbs woke to sub-zero mornings.
The city shivered through its coldest morning in 15 years on July 25, recording a minimum of 0.3C.
Mandurah recorded its coldest temperature of 3.9C, beating the previous record of 4.4C on July 9, 2015.
A new July minimum temperature record of 0.4C was also set in Windy Harbour that day.
On July 22, Wiluna recorded its coldest ever minimum of minus 3.1C since the site was opened in 1898.
While on the morning of the 28th, Rottnest Island recorded its coldest low of 6.0C, dropping below the previous record of 6.2C from August 1992.
That day, Perth recorded its coldest maximum in more than a year, when the mercury peaked at 13.9 degrees Celsius.
Katanning in the Great Southern also had its coldest day since records began there 27 years ago, with the temperature reaching a maximum of 8.5C.
Garden Island got up to just 13.1C, a new annual record, while Bunbury also experienced its coldest July day with a top of 12.2C.
Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) senior meteorologist Jessica Lingard said it had been a while since WA had experienced a July this chilly.
"June was fairly warm … but as we look at [last] month as a whole, we are sitting below average for many sites and for many sites it has been the coldest July in almost a decade," she told ABC Perth.
"Badgingarra, a station that has been there for 59 years, reported its coldest ever maximum temperature with a top of 9.9C [on Sunday]."
And if that wasn't wintry enough, last month snow chasers were treated to three opportunities of snowfall in eight days at Bluff Knoll in Stirling Range National Park.
According to BOM, the last time that happened was back in 2016, which was also the busiest year for snow, with six reports coming through to the bureau.
Ms Lingard said on all three days, snow flurries were not exclusive to just Bluff Knoll.
"Each time, we had reports from about halfway down/up the mountain, which has a peak at about 1099m," she said.
"That indicates other peaks around the Stirling and Porongurup Ranges likely also saw a dusting, including Mt Toolbrunup, the second highest peak in the Stirling Ranges."
Then came the wildest twist of all, a tornado ripping through Perth's coastal suburb of City Beach on July 24, damaging multi-million-dollar homes, toppling trees, and sending debris flying.
BOM confirmed it likely began as a waterspout before making landfall, while emergency services responded to over 100 calls for help across the city.
But with one more month of winter to go, WA isn't done with the cold and wet weather just yet.
August will kick off with another soaking for southern parts of the state as a powerful cold front brings more widespread rain and strong winds.
The front will cross the west coast on Saturday, dropping up to 30mm of rainfall from Lancelin to Albany, with lighter falls forecast further inland.
Totals will then get another boost on Sunday as a second cold front sweeps across.
Maximum temperatures across the southern half are also forecast to dip again, with most areas only expected to reach the low-to-mid-teens.