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An East Coast Low is moving away from NSW but still bringing strong winds, light showers & damaging surf to some eastern areas of NSW & Vic. Another low with a front brings showers and intense storms to southwest WA. A high brings clear skies elsewhere.
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Today, 1:19AM UTC
Heavy rain in southwest WA
The southwestern tip of Western Australia is the latest corner of the country to see exceptionally heavy winter rainfall, with 24-hour totals topping 100mm at some locations. Storms and heavy downpours pelted much of the South West Land Division on Wednesday as a cold front and associated low pressure system moved in from the Indian Ocean, with the most intense rainfall occurring in the late afternoon and early evening. Skies were ablaze as the storms crossed the coastline, with more than 250,000 lightning strikes detected within 500km of Perth. Image: Four-hour radar loop showing heavy falls and storms in southwest WA on Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Rainfall totals were heaviest near the coast, and especially in the Margaret River region. Notable accumulations to 9am (AWST) included: 130mm at the Vasse Highway CB3 weather station just south of Busselton, with falls exceeding 100mm at two other nearby stations. 89.2mm at Busselton Airport, the heaviest rain day in any month in almost two years, and the heaviest July fall since the current site opened in 1998. 63mm at Bridgetown, the heaviest rain day in any month for four years in the inland town located approximately 100km southeast of Busselton. 40.6mm at Mandurah, the heaviest rain day to date in 2025 and the heaviest July rain day since 2019 for WA’s second most populous city. 18.8mm at Perth Airport. The West Australian rain has cleared the far southwest of the state this Thursday morning, with the exception of a few very light showers, however bands of showers continue to dampen parts of the Wheatbelt, north and east of Perth. Mostly clear skies will set in for a couple of days from this afternoon, before a classic winter pattern returns to the southwest later on Sunday as a strong cold front approaches.
02 Jul 2025, 5:59AM UTC
Satellite images capture East Coast Low spinning near NSW
Satellites have captured spectacular images of a powerful East Coast Low that has been causing severe weather in NSW this week. East Coast Lows are one of the most dangerous types of weather systems in Australia. Their impacts can be similar to a tropical cyclone and they often affect highly populated areas of Australia's eastern seaboard. This week’s system formed when an upper-level trough passing over NSW caused a surface-based low pressure system to deepen rapidly near the NSW coast. The video below shows enhanced water vapour satellite imagery between Sunday afternoon and Wednesday morning. This satellite layer is useful for identifying moisture in the upper atmosphere. In this video, you can see moisture-laden air from the tropics being wrapped into the developing low near eastern NSW. Video: Enhanced water vapour satellite images showing an East Coast Low forming near the NSW coast this week. The intense low pressure system sat very close to the NSW coast throughout Tuesday and into Wednesday, causing a sustained period of heavy rain, flooding, damaging to destructive winds and damaging surf over a broad area of eastern NSW. The severe weather from this system caused power outages and evacuations as wind gusts reached 130 km/h along the coast and rain rates exceeded 120 mm in 6 hours and 220 mm in 24 hours. Image: Visible satellite image showing the low sitting off the Central Coast on Wednesday morning. Fortunately, the low pressure system that caused the severe weather on Tuesday and Wednesday will move towards the east into Wednesday night, taking it away from the coast. However, a second low pressure system associated with the same broad low pressure complex will deliver another burst of wind and rain to eastern NSW on Wednesday night into Thursday morning. The weather will improve by Friday as the lows move further away from the coast and a high pressure ridge builds over eastern NSW. Be sure to monitor the latest severe weather warnings in your area and contact the SES on 132 500 if you need emergency assistance from this weather event.
01 Jul 2025, 11:34PM UTC
Huge night of rainfall, wind in NSW: when will this East Coast Low clear?
The powerful East Coast Low continues to lash large parts of the NSW coastline this Wednesday morning after 24 hours of damaging wind gusts and huge rainfall totals. The stretch of NSW coastline from the Hunter region to the South Coast has been most severely affected, with more than 30,000 residents without power and numerous homes evacuated due to coastal erosion and/or flooding. The intensity of the storm can be seen on the radar, with bands of rain spiralling towards the centre of the low which was located approximately 75 km southeast of Nelson Bay around 8am. Image: Three-hour combined radar and satellite loop for the central NSW coastline on the morning of Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Rainfall totals Some of the heaviest 24-hour rainfall totals in years have been recorded on the NSW South Coast, with widespread heavy falls. Numerous locations received more than 200mm in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday. Notable totals included: 224mm at Ulladulla, which followed 40.2mm the previous day. That’s a running storm total of 264.2mm. 217mm at Fitzroy Falls Dam on the NSW Southern Highlands. 207mm at Bawley Point Rd. 143.6mm at Moruya Airport. Widespread falls exceeding 50mm across the Sydney basin with both the city and the airport topping 70mm. Image: Rainfall observations in the vicinity of the low pressure system for the 24 hours to 9am on Wednesday, July 2, 2025, as depicted on Weatherzone Layers. Wind gusts Numerous wind gusts exceeding 100 km/h have been recorded over the past 24-48 hours, with the strongest gusts in the early hours of Wednesday. These included: 130 km/h gust at Wattamolla at 5:39am, the strongest in more than a decade at that location in the Royal National Park just south of Sydney. 117 km/h gust at Port Botany (Molineux Point) at 5:50am 104 km/h gust at Ulladulla at 7:21pm Tuesday, the strongest gust in five years. 104 km/h gust at Penrith Lakes on Tuesday evening, the strongest gust there in 12 years. 104 km/h gust at Montague Island at 3:30am. 102 km/h gust at Sydney Harbour at 5:43am, the strongest in nearly eight years. 102 km/h gust at Bellambi at 4:37am 100 km/h gust at Ulladulla at 5:43am. 100 km/h gust at Kiama at 5:58am. Image: NSW wind gusts at 4am on Wednesday July 2, 2025, which was around the time some of the strongest gusts were recorded. Waves Huge swells have been whipped up by this intense low pressure system, whose central pressure dropped 26 hectopascals within 24 hours to 988hPa from Monday into Tuesday. Sydney’s Botany Bay registered a significant wave height (the average height of the highest third of waves) of 6.5m and a maximum wave height of 10.6m at 4pm Tuesday, at which point the official buoy stopped recording. Port Kembla registered a significant wave height of 6.4m and a maximum wave height of 13m. Batemans Bay registered a 12.3m maximum wave height around midnight. The buoy off Eden, the southernmost major town on the NSW coast, recorded registered a maximum wave height of 12m at 3am Wednesday. Large swells will persist until the end of the week, making coastal activities like fishing and surfing extremely hazardous. Image: Wave heights at Batemans Bay on July 2. Source: Manly Hydraulics Laboratory. What’s next? This remains an intense and dangerous weather system. The central pressure of the East Coast Low was 986 hPa at 4am AEST on Wednesday, which was 20 hPa lower than it was at 4am on Tuesday. This huge and rapid drop in pressure has contributed to the severity of this system. Areas of heavy rain, damaging winds and dangerous surf will continue to affect parts of eastern NSW on Wednesday as the low lingers near the coast. Damaging gusts could also extend into parts of southeast Qld. Severe weather warnings are in place for both states. The low is expected to move away from the coast later on Wednesday into Thursday, which should allow conditions to gradually ease. The weather will be clearer and calmer by Friday and waves will also ease into the weekend. Please check the Weatherzone warnings page for the latest flood and wind warnings and the NSW SES site for the latest incidents, advice and warnings.