Weather News

Morning storms for southwest WA

Weather heads turned west as a line of thunderstorms and heavy rain swept over southwest WA during the early hours of Saturday morning.

A severe storm warning was issued at 5am WST alerting early morning risers to the risk of flash flooding. It was a relatively short burst of activity though, with the warning cancelled by 9:30am when the system lost intensity after tracking inland.

The hardest hit was Bunbury where over 35 mm of rain fell between 3am and 4am, bringing the 24 hour total to 49mm. Other stations in the southwest region recorded similar amounts from this system, such as Donnybrook which recorded 30mm and Cape Leeuwin 37mm.

The storms were a result of a deep low pressure trough slowly tracking across southern WA. It was a familiar set-up, with strong upper level winds feeding moisture into a developing trough ahead of a cold front to the south of the state.

Isolated showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue in the southwest today and on Sunday showers will push further inland with the trough. The Eucla, Goldfields and southern Gascoyne should all see scattered falls tomorrow, although most places will see less than 10mm.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2012

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