Wet and windy cold front sweeping across Western Australia

Australian Community Media

Return of very wintery conditions across the lower west of the nation.

Transcript

00:00A strong winter cold front is going to bring wet and blustery weather to southern Western

00:05Australia over the next couple of days.

00:07Now as of 11 o'clock Western Standard Time, no warnings are current for Western Australia,

00:13but it's likely that we will see warnings for damaging winds or heavy rainfall issued

00:17later today, most likely about the southwest coast as that front rolls through tomorrow

00:23evening.

00:24Now damaging winds are strong enough to bring down trees or power lines, potentially leading

00:28to dangerous driving conditions.

00:31Heavy rainfall may be more isolated, but if it's heavy enough it could produce flash

00:35flooding which likewise could impact roads and access routes.

00:40As the front moves through over the next couple of days we may see these warnings updated

00:43regularly so it is important to check the Bureau's warnings page for the latest there.

00:48Now the front itself is expected to approach through Wednesday morning.

00:52We'll see a few scattered showers developing across the southwest land division through

00:57the early part of Wednesday afternoon, really starting to ramp up as the afternoon goes

01:01on, with the chance of a few isolated thunderstorms as well.

01:05The strongest winds and heaviest rain will be tied to the front itself, likely to reach

01:10the southwest coast through the afternoon, pushing towards Perth by around 10pm or so.

01:17With the front that's where we're going to see the widespread rain, isolated thunderstorms

01:21and that risk of damaging winds and heavy rainfall.

01:24We may also see some of this rainfall pushing a little bit further north into parts of the

01:28Pilbara and Gascoyne, associated with a cloud band that's coming down from the north.

01:33Now through the course of Thursday this front will continue to move east across those southern

01:37districts of Western Australia, driving that rainfall risk of showers and storms with it.

01:43We may see the rainfall tending a little bit patchier further in the southwest, but it

01:47will be cold and blustery still, with the chance of small hail extending behind the front.

01:53This pattern will continue as the front moves towards the South Australia border later on

01:57Thursday, but we may see some of that showery weather and the chance of small hail persisting

02:02into early Friday as well.

02:04Now let's take a look at some of our hazards in a bit more detail.

02:07Firstly, our winds.

02:08We're looking at winds above the surface here because they give us a good indication of

02:12how strong the wind gusts might be once they reach the ground.

02:16Anything that reaches orange or red is where we start to get a bit worried about the risk

02:20of damaging winds, and as you can see ahead of the front through the early part of Wednesday

02:24afternoon, for the most part it's not too windy, but as that front grows closer that's

02:29where we start to see the winds flaring, particularly across that southwest pocket.

02:34Now the strongest winds are most likely with showers or storms, but we still could see

02:38damaging wind gusts away from that wet weather as well.

02:41It'll be blustery in the west to southwesterly winds behind the front, but the strongest

02:46winds really will be driven ahead of the system.

02:49Now taking a look at our rainfall.

02:51Our rainfall totals between now and the end of Thursday tell the same story, building

02:56up across the southwestern parts of Western Australia through the next two days or so.

03:01The highest falls can be seen accumulating along the southwest coast, 40-70mm possible

03:07in those highest accumulations, with those totals tapering off further inland.

03:12Still we could see some decent falls for agricultural parts of southern Western Australia, as well

03:18as through parts of the Pilbara and Gascoyne a bit further north.

03:22Now this cold front is typical for this time of year, but it is still likely to bring this

03:26severe weather with it.

03:29So you can find all the details around this system via the Bureau's website or the BOM

03:33social media.

03:35Stay safe and we'll catch you in the next update.

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