Weather News

Residents of southwestern WA batten down the hatches

Guy Dixon, Friday May 20, 2016 - 16:45 AEST

A severe weather warning has been issued for parts of Western Australia including the Central West, Lower West, South West, South Coastal, South East Coastal, Great Southern and Central Wheat Belt.

A strong cold front is bearing down on WA and brings the potential for widespread damaging wind gusts of up to 100km/h late this evening and into Saturday morning. Localised destructive wind gusts of up to 125km/h are also a risk, posing the threat of significant damage to homes and property.

Heavy rainfall is likely with the passage of this system with falls in excess of 50mm possible over the Lower West, South West, Great Southern and South Coastal, becoming lighter further north and east.

In addition to the risk of localised flooding, a strong swell and abnormally high tides present the risk of significant coastal erosion and inundation of low lying areas on Saturday morning.

A dangerous surf warning has also been issued with significant wave heights forecast to rise to seven metres along the Bunbury Geographe coast, marginally smaller further north and east.

Conditions will settle in the wake of this system throughout Saturday afternoon and evening, however a second strong front looms in the near future. A front of smaller scale but greater intensity is due to cross the state's southwest in the early hours of Tuesday, possibly providing another round of winds well in excess of 100km/h.

For all the latest warnings, head to http://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings.jsp

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2016

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

Satellites capture huge dust storm crossing Mediterranean Sea

14:32 AEST Images captured from satellites have revealed the colossal scale of a dust storm that turned the sky orange in parts of Greece earlier this week.