Perth Braces for 40mm Rain This Weekend After Historic Storm

Perth residents have been warned to brace for another weekend of wet conditions, with forecasters saying the wild winter weather is only just beginning. Residents across the WA capital have spent the past three days tending to a path of destruction left by the strongest storm to hit the city in almost 50 years.

Thousands were left without power as the weather system, which battered properties with 125km/hr wind gusts, caused flooding, uprooted trees and tore roofs and fences apart. While blue skies have reappeared over the city and most of the debris has been cleared, experts from the Bureau of Meteorology warn that a new weather system is set to drench WA once more.

New Weather System Approaching

Meteorologist Robert Urbaniak told PerthNow that the new trough would travel south-westerly over Perth on Sunday afternoon and Monday, bringing rain and winds across the suburbs. “Showers will start to impact the metropolitan area from Sunday afternoon, bringing up to 5mm of rain,” he said. “The system will gain power as it moves, with current forecast predicting between 10mm and 40mm of rain for Monday.”

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Grey skies are expected to ease slightly by Tuesday but the rain will continue to pour across inland suburbs in Perth’s east. “Although the system will have passed towards the South West by Tuesday, there will still be a day or two of showers in the city,” Mr Urbaniak said.

Wave Swell and Coastal Winds

Some cheeky showers aren’t the only sign of the system that will linger until Wednesday, with the bureau saying that waves would endure a sizeable swell due to the passing trough. “There will be decent waves on Tuesday and Wednesday because of this system,” Mr Urbaniak said. “We are predicting waves to reach between 6m and 7m from the swell on Tuesday, and that will carry into Wednesday.” Coastal winds are anticipated to reach speeds of 60 to 70km/hr — not even half the speed of gusts witnessed by Perth over the weekend.

Despite meteorologists stating that the upcoming system would be much less aggressive than Sunday’s megastorm, Mr Urbaniak said the possibility of it intensifying was “not completely out of the question”. “The current forecast suggests the wind and rain won’t be as intense as the last storm on the weekend,” he said. “It could be quite a while before another system of that strength impacts Perth. This upcoming system is still several days away, however, and our predictions can change as the system nears so it’s not completely out of the question.”

Silver Lining: Warmer Temperatures

Despite the rainy skies, the bureau insists there is a silver lining to the upcoming system. “The good news is, although there will be rain, Perth is on a warming trend with temperatures reaching the early 20s on the weekend,” Mr Urbaniak said. “All of Saturday and Sunday morning will have lovely warm weather for people to enjoy before the rain starts in the afternoon.”