WA Faces Fire Threat, Heat, and Storms

Now, high fire dangers are forecast across much of the west and south west of WA again today, with a large area of extreme fire dangers mostly covering the Central Wheatbelt and Great Southern districts. Now, in those areas, fire weather is likely to be most hazardous for any fires that get going or are ongoing in the landscape. And we certainly do have quite a few fires in the landscape that our emergency services have been battling for some time, stretching from the south west all the way up to areas inland from Geraldton. Communities in these areas should check in regularly with emergency services today and over the next few days to make sure they stay as safe as possible through this time.

Now this dangerous fire weather, the hot, dry and windy conditions that are driving these fire danger ratings, are largely being triggered by a west coast trough. We can see that here, this blue dashed line lying along the coastline. Now, a west coast trough is also called a heat trough, as it drags in strong easterly winds and plenty of heat from those inland parts of Australia. It's expected to gradually shift away from the west coast, slightly inland today, which means that the peak of the heat is likely to sit inland as well.

You can see temperatures reaching the high thirties, possibly low forties, through those inland parts of the South West Land Division today. Compare that to the south west and west coasts. Temperatures are only expected to reach the low thirties there, in stark contrast to the hotter conditions we had yesterday.

Now, another thing our trough will serve to do will drive areas of thunderstorms across parts of Western Australia as well. Looking at today's thunderstorm forecast, we can see that storms are possible through many of those western and south western districts. Any storms could produce some patchy showers and gusty winds, but it's the yellow area on this map we really want to focus on. That is where severe thunderstorms are possible today, an area that stretches from the southern Gascoyne all the way down to the south east coast.

Now, any storms in that area could produce damaging wind gusts, which could bring down trees, tree limbs or powerlines, causing damage to cars or properties, or heavy rainfall that could lead to flash flooding. It is a good idea to keep an eye on the radar today and keep an eye out for any severe thunderstorm warnings that we may need to issue.

Now, over the next few days, our trough is going to slowly move inland, first into those central parts of Western Australia and then towards the south east. To the east of the trough, we're likely to see hot and windy weather continuing, but to the west of the trough we're starting to get southerly winds pushing up, and that's going to cool things off along those coastal areas. So much milder conditions for the west and southern coasts.

We can see that if we take a look at Wednesday's forecast maximum temperatures, where we've got temperatures still reaching the low forties inland, but only really reaching the mid to high twenties along the west and south west coasts.

As the trough moves inland and temperatures start to ease, we'll also see our fire danger ratings gradually coming down. Tomorrow's fire danger ratings will remain high through many of the western and south western parts of WA, with extreme fire dangers ongoing in the far south west there. As we move to Wednesday, however, the extreme fire danger ratings fall off our forecast, but we do still have high fire danger ratings ongoing. So conditions won't ease completely, but that peak risk, the extreme fire danger ratings, will back off slightly.

We're also likely to see our heatwave conditions easing over the coming days as well. For today, low to severe intensity heatwaves for much of the south and South West Land Division. Over the coming days though, as that heat moves east, we'll see our heatwaves also shifting towards the east, bringing some relief for much of the South West Land Division there.

As this risk of fire, storms and heat is ongoing over the coming days, it is essential to stay on top of the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website, the BOM Weather app, and via our social media. Stay safe and we'll catch you next time.