Record rainfall in Great Southern as Perth gets ready for beach weather

The severe storms may not have eventuated in Perth and the South West but the Great Southern has been smashed by record rainfall.

With a low pressure system making its way south across the State, the rain fell hard on Sunday night and early Monday morning.

Parts of Dumbleyung received a whopping 60mm of rain in 30 minutes and 62mm in an hour, with Katanning recording 22.6mm.

Hail rained down in some areas and more rain was expected as the low made its way to the coast.

Weather Bureau duty forecaster Luke Huntington said the rainfall was amazing for this time of year.

“A low pressure system moved just inland ... and generated quite good rainfall,” he said. “It doesn’t happen that often and it’s pretty unusual this time of year.

“A lot of places in the south-west got between 20-60mm of rain.

“Dumbleyung in the Great Southern recorded 60mm in half an hour, which is quite incredible.”

On Sunday, one of the West Aussies affected by the storm was Kulin farmer Bryn Davies, who was operating a harvester on his property in the eastern Wheatbelt region when lightning struck the ground just metres away.

“I was in the harvester so it would have been interesting if (the lightning had hit that),” Mr Davies said.

The father of three said he could not estimate how close he had been to where the lightning struck, instead saying: “You know the old saying, ‘You see the flash and count the seconds for distance?’ There wasn’t any (time in between, it seemed).

A video taken shortly after the lighting bolt struck the ground shows the scorched and smouldering earth left in its wake.

It came after the severe thunderstorm warning for Mandurah, Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River was cancelled on Sunday afternoon.

However, Perth was hit with rain on Monday morning, with more than 6mm falling.

“Considering how late it is in the season, that rainfall is not too bad for Perth at this time of year,” Mr Huntington said.

But Perth is set to bask in much warmer weather as the week wears on.

“The rest of November is going to bring quite a change,” Mr Huntington said.

“We’ve got a slow-medium to high pressure system to the south of the State for the remainder of the week.

“We’re actually going for an extended period of dry and warm to hot weather pretty much for the next seven days.

“We will see temperatures into the low to mid 30s from Thursday right through to Sunday.”

Following an expected 25C on Tuesday and 29C on Wednesday, the real beach weather then kicks in as temperatures soar into the early to mid-30s.

A sunny 32C is predicted on Thursday, followed by a sweltering 34C on Friday, 35C on Saturday and 34C on Sunday.

Long-term, the maximum for next Monday is also expected to be in the 30s before a cooler 29C next Tuesday.

WEATHER FORECAST

Tuesday: 12-23

Wednesday: 15-29

Thursday: 17-32

Friday: 19-34

Saturday: 20-35

Sunday: 20-34