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What do the colours mean on satellite images?

On infrared imagery, the colours refer to the temperature that the satellite is sensing. Colder temperatures appear as brighter shades of white and warmer temperatures appear as darker shades of grey or even black. Therefore, higher clouds, which contain colder water vapour or even ice, will appear brighter than lower clouds, which contain water vapour at higher temperatures. Often, low clouds will not vary in temperature much from the underlying land so it will be difficult to detect them on infrared images.

On visible images, the colour refers to how much visible light is being reflected. Therefore, the thicker the cloud, the more light is reflected, and the brighter the cloud will appear. In this way, low cloud is more visible than high cloud, because it generally tends to be thicker. Therefore, both visible and infrared imagery should be used together to gain the best snapshot of what is happening at any one time. Visible imagery will not be available at night because there is no visible light at this time.

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Decent rain en route to bone-dry southwest WA

14:29 AEST Welcome rain is coming to the parched southwest WA this week, possibly including Perth and Bunbury which are both having their driest 7 months on record. Many locations in the southwest will see the driest April on record, with much of this rainfall likely to contribute to May’s totals, as a cold front approaches the state on later in the week. Rainfall and thunderstorms are forecast in the Gascoyne region on Monday afternoon, before shifting to the Central West, Lower West and Central Wheatbelt regions on Tuesday.