Damaging winds, heavy rainfall and damaging surf expected for Western Australia

31/07/2022

Issued: Sunday, 31 July 2022

A series of strong cold fronts will bring strong to gale force winds to most of south-western Western Australia starting Monday and continuing through to Wednesday night.

A Severe Weather Warning for damaging winds and heavy rainfall has been issued with the potential to impact Perth, Albany, Bunbury, Busselton, Katanning, Mandurah, Manjimup, Margaret River, Merredin, Moora, Mount Barker, Narrogin and Northam.

The first front will cross the WA coast on Monday morning and the severe weather is expected to continue through to Wednesday night.

Widespread rainfall is also expected, with three-day totals of between 50-100 mm forecast for coastal areas between Geraldton and Albany and 10-30 mm inland.

At this stage, this rainfall is not likely to lead to riverine flooding however localised flash flooding may occur on Monday in the warning area.

Damaging wind gusts of around 90-100 km/h are possible across the southern half of WA.

A Damaging Surf Warning has been issued for dangerous surf conditions with possible wave heights between 7-10 m between Shark Bay and Esperance. This could cause possible beach erosion.

This weather system is expected to be windier and longer lasting than a typical front and is likely to produce the kind of weather usually seen once a year.

The Bureau will monitor the situation closely and provide regular updates to its forecasts and warnings.

Communities are encouraged to stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website and the BOM Weather app.

ENDS