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Cold front slams the southwest with wind, rain, storms

A vigorous cold front is unleashing wild wintry weather on the southwest corner of WA, with storms, heavy showers and strong wind gusts battering the region this Tuesday.

The severe weather has so far stayed south of Perth as it pushes in from the Indian Ocean in a northwesterly stream – and indeed the WA capital had recorded no rain to 9am (AWST) – however showers are increasingly likely in the city as lunchtime approaches.

Image: Six-hour combined satellite and radar loop in southwest WA on the morning of Tuesday, August 19, 2025.

The combined radar and satellite loop above shows the stormy weather pushing onshore. The pink areas indicate lightning in a line of thunderstorms which formed along the boundary of the cold front, as cold air forced the warmer, more humid air ahead of the front to rise.

This narrow band of storms with strong wind gusts is a good example of the meteorological phenomenon known as a squall line.

Image: Graphic showing how storms fall in a squall line at the boundary between a cold front and warmer air ahead of it.

While Perth has thus far missed out on the early Tuesday rainfall, plenty of places further south had received good falls by 8am local time, with totals in the vicinity of 20mm at numerous locations in the Margaret River area.

The notoriously windy Cape Leeuwin – Australia’s most southwesterly point – saw a gust of 111 km/h just after 2am.

Looking ahead, a second front approaches the southwest on Wednesday, delivering another burst of showers. Combined with the rain that is likely to fall on Tuesday, Perth’s running monthly rainfall total should push above the August average of 122.7mm. It’s currently 110.8mm.

As mentioned in our story last week, that would make it the first time since 1996 that Perth has seen above-average rainfall totals in each of the three winter months – traditionally the wettest time of year.

READ MORE: Perth approaching winter rainfall streak not seen in 3 decades

In terms of temperatures, the twin-cold fronts impacting the southwest over the next 24 hours won’t usher in the most frigid airmass of the year. But the mercury will still drop a few degrees with widespread maximums in the mid-teens by midweek.

Perth’s coldest day this week should be Thursday with a high of 18°C expected, although the cool air will be accompanied by mostly sunny skies.