Skip to Content

News

Home>Weather News>At last, sunshine for Perth after wettest July in quarter of a century

Search Icon
Anthony Sharwood, 02 Aug 2021, 1:51 AM UTC

At last, sunshine for Perth after wettest July in quarter of a century

At last, sunshine for Perth after wettest July in quarter of a century

The good news for Perth and southern WA is that the week ahead looks like it'll stay mostly dry, after an extremely soggy July which was the wettest in 26 years.

As Weatherzone meteorologist Esteban Abellan wrote this weekend, Perth collected 271 mm of rain during July 2021, which is almost double its monthly average of 142 mm. It was also the highest accumulated total since 1995 and the 10th-wettest July in 146 years of records.

This year's winter rain across southern WA and even some central parts of the state has been extremely welcome for farmers in the wheatbelt and beyond. In fact you could say it's been bloomin marvellous – and you can check out our story here about the early outburst of WA wildflowers.

But there's a downside to the downpours and that of course is flooding. A minor flood warning remains in place for the Swan River, while warnings also remain current for the Avon, Blackwood and Murray Rivers (that's the WA Murray River, not the eastern states one).

Image: Nice weather for ducks on the upper Swan River. Source: @jarrodneilsonphotography on Instagram.

Fortunately these are all only minor warnings. The reason flooding is not more severe is because there has been no extreme deluge lasting several days, as for example we saw in Sydney in March, when around 300 mm of rain fell across just a few days in most parts of the city.

Instead, what we've seen in Perth and surrounds was consistent rain spread throughout the month. Indeed, as we told you this weekend, Perth saw rainfall exceeding 1 mm on 25 days in July, with only three days that were entirely rain-free.

So while there's flooding around, it's not too severe at this stage.

Image: On the positive side, there's going to be some great pasture this spring. Source: @jarrodneilsonphotography on Instagram.

As mentioned, the week ahead now looks to be mostly dry and pretty pleasant for this time of year. There will be a shower or two about the Albany coast for most of the week, but nothing that's expected to amount to more than a couple of millimeters.

Further north, Perth should be almost completely rain-free for the second half of the working week. For the first time in ages, there's no cold front lurking to the west or southwest on the synoptic chart, although things are likely to turn damp again by next weekend.

Note to media: You are welcome to republish text from the above news article as direct quotes from Weatherzone. When doing so, please reference www.weatherzone.com.au in the credit.