Severe weather warning issued for parts of WA as ex-tropical cyclone Mitchell tracks inland
Perth woke up to a sweltering, drizzly morning as former tropical cyclone Mitchell crossed the Western Australian coast in the early hours of Tuesday.
The Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Mitchell to a former tropical cyclone before it crossed the Gascoyne coast east of Shark Bay at 1am.
Gascoyne Junction recorded a whopping 132mm of rain since 9am on Monday morning, while Shark Bay Airport received 104.2mm of rain in the last 48 hours.
Many areas in the south-west Gascoyne region, including Bullardoo and the River Greenough, are still experiencing heavy rainfall, with Pindarring Rocks seeing 41.8mm of rainfall in the last two hours.
Rain is expected to continue as a severe weather warning has been issued for the central Wheatbelt and parts of the Gascoyne and Central West, including heavy and locally heavy rainfall of 25mm to 50mm, which could lead to flash flooding.
Although the threat has diminished, a cyclone warning remains for Shark Bay and Denham, including tourist attraction Monkey Mia.
A minor flood warning has also been issued for the Fitzroy River at the Fitzroy Gorge in the Kimberley and for “minor” river rises along the Moore River.
According to BOM meteorologist Grace Abbott, the former tropical cyclone continues to move in a south-easterly direction and is “weakening” in strength, so the Perth metropolitan area will be spared bad weather: only 2.2mm of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours.
“Perth lies around a cloud band extending from former tropical cyclone Mitchell and we saw some showers this morning,” he said.
“The weather is expected to gradually clear by this afternoon, but it will remain quite muggy today… Starting tomorrow, we will start to dry out gradually so that the relative humidity also dries out.”
The metro area will return to its classic dry temperatures for the rest of the week, according to Ms. Abbott.
“The weather forecast until Monday will be sunny with temperatures between 28 and 30C maximum,” he said.
PERTH WEATHER FORECAST
- Tuesday: Rain, 25 🌧️
- Wednesday: Mostly sunny, 17-30 ⛅️
- Thursday: Sunny, 14-29 ☀️
- Friday: Sunny, 16-30 ☀️
- Saturday: Sunny, 19-30 ☀️
- Sunday: Sunny, 18-29 ☀️
- Monday: Sunny, 17-28☀️
The forecast is from the Bureau of Meteorology.
