Drew Casper-Richardson, 01 Oct 2016, 1:38 AM UTC
Damaging winds pound southwest WA
A vigorous cold front has roared through parts of southwest Western Australia bringing gusts in excess of 100km/h.
While those in southwest WA are no stranger to strong cold fronts, this one is particularly robust and threatens to bring gusts of 125km/h. The approach of the front prompted the release of a Severe Weather Warning for Damaging Winds for those southwest of a line from Perth to Hyden to Israelite Bay. A Storm Force Wind Warning was also issued for the Leeuwin Coast along with the Albany Coast were the swell is also forecast to reach a massive nine metres. It might be a good day to leave the tinny in the driveway.
Early on Saturday morning gusts had already exceeded 100km/h at Cape Leeuwin (117km/h), Busselton Jetty (102km/h) and Cape Naturaliste have had the strongest gust so far at 119km/h. As the front marches onward these damaging winds will spread east to the South East Coastal district.
Perth will escape the worst of the winds however could still have gusts reaching 70-80km/h.
The blustery winds will continue for much of Saturday with a renewed burst on Sunday although this is unlikely to be as ferocious as the winds experienced on Saturday morning.
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