Perth weather: Perth locals ‘disappointed’ over Bureau of Meteorology's forecast blunder before thunderstorms

The Bureau of Meteorology is being slammed after a forecast blunder on Thursday morning left Perth residents caught in the middle of a wild storm.

West Aussies who were ready to enjoy the summer sun during the season’s final days were disappointed to wake to thunderstorms over the city.

The wet weather was a clear difference from the national forecast released on Wednesday that predicted “dry and sunny conditions” for WA.

“The west coast trough is bringing dry and sunny conditions, and pretty warm conditions east of it,” a senior meteorologist said during the organisation’s Wednesday broadcast.

While those along the Great Southern coastline were forewarned that conditions may be cooler, there was no mention of rain for the State.

Warnings of rain and thunderstorms were issued to Aussies living in New South Wales, Queensland, South Australia, Northern Territory and parts of Victoria during the broadcast.

The government weather body’s shorter forecast showed that the Perth metro area would face a “partly cloudy” day with a high of 32C — a stark difference from the grey skies and dreary weather that greeted the WA city on Thursday.

Bureau meteorologist Jessica Lingard told PerthNow that the thunderstorms had been on their website’s long-form forecast about 5.30pm on Wednesday. She put confusion over the weather down to people reading only the short-term forecast.

“(Storms in Perth) were definitely forecast from Wednesday evening — the long forecast showed it would be partly cloudy with a slight chance of showers, and the chance of thunderstorms in the morning,” she said.

“To clarify the confusion, this information was on the longer form forecast and not the shorter one.

“When (people) wake up and check their BoM app, they will see the two to three word summary which aims to summarise an entire 24 hours worth of weather.

“People will open the app, see partly cloudy and they expect just that: partly cloudy conditions.

“Not many people go on to read the breakdown of the longer form forecast where it says this storm has been sitting there.

“I can see where people are coming from (with the complaints), however, and I can see why some people are upset.”

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said the thunderstorms formed offshore on Wednesday evening, before making landfall in Perth on Thursday morning.

They said the thunderstorms were “viewable” on the Bureau’s satellite and radar.

“The thunderstorms formed as part of the West Coast Trough, which has been lingering near the west coast since Monday, and with assistance from the mid-levels of the atmosphere,” the spokesperson said.

“This is the reason the cloud base was so high above the ground this morning, they were what are known as ‘high based storms.’”

Tech giant Apple has also been on the receiving end of criticism over the missed storm, with its weather app showing users in Perth that there has been 0mm of rainfall.

The pre-installed app also states that there will be zero rainfall for at least the next 10 days.

Users were quick to voice their displeasure at the forecast on social media.

“I’m wondering how the BoM didn’t see this coming?? Site still said no rain as the forecast while it was p***ing it down,” one Perth user wrote on social media.

“Thunder but my weather app says fine and no chance of rain huh...” another lamented.

A third Perth user had a simple question for meteorologists: “Aren’t the weather people meant to give us a heads up?”

Some users, however, have stated the bureau did update their forecast later on Wednesday to reflect the impending storms.

“The forecast was updated but late, which was disappointing,” one said.

“I checked but swore (BoM) said it was gonna rain,” another wrote.

“Rain in Perth was definitely forecast,” one person replied to an upset resident.

Ms Lingard said the Bureau of Meteorology had updated their shorter summary for Perth on Thursday morning to focus on the thunderstorms instead of the partial cloudiness, a move she said offered “a better clarification” for confused Sandgropers.

The blunder comes after a tumultuous 2025 for the government’s main weather body.

The organisation came under public scrutiny in October after their website redevelopment was found to have cost taxpayers $96 million.

The redevelopment also faced criticism for changes to the site’s navigational features, with many Aussies reportedly struggling to access the rain radar for their region.