Strong cold front to bring heavy rain, damaging winds, and maybe severe thunderstorms as well for parts of south-west WA. And because of that, a severe weather warning is current from just north of Jurien Bay all the way south through Lancelin, Perth, Bunbury and Busselton down through the Margaret River area and to just west of Albany.

That means that if you live in this yellow highlighted area or know someone that does, tomorrow's cold front in these areas could bring heavy rainfall that could lead to minor flooding and also damaging winds, enough to bring down trees and power lines. And we can see that here with those conditions, particularly with those thunderstorms tomorrow, as that front moves through, could be strong enough to bring down trees and cause property damage.

Also makes the early morning commute Tuesday morning through Perth some hazardous driving conditions, and we could even see some minor flooding as well, particularly towards the South West Capes where it's already really wet, and the adjacent inland areas there, and also for some of our roads as well with these heavy falls. And that's as that front moves through tomorrow.

So let's time that out right now. So the cold front moving well offshore today. So it's not too bad today. But then tonight into the early hours of tomorrow we'll start to see that shower and thunderstorm activity moving into the South West Capes around the midnight hour. And then slowly move east and north eastwards towards the Perth area into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

Then, as we progress through Tuesday, we'll see that front move through much of south west WA, including the Perth metropolitan area, around that lunchtime hour, and then continuing to move inland across much of the Wheatbelt as we move through Tuesday afternoon into Tuesday night. And then we'll see a second follow up front, as more energy comes into the upper atmosphere to reinvigorate the rain band moving further north through the inland parts of the northern Wheatbelt and the eastern Wheatbelt, and then that will spread right across south western WA on Wednesday, with moderate to heavy falls, with showers and gusty winds following that as well.

But it's those severe thunderstorms that we're more concerned about tomorrow, particularly in the area between Jurien Bay and Bunbury. And that's where we could see these storms bring those damaging winds, heavy rainfall and maybe even see the strongest storms bring some large hail as well, with the thunderstorm risk also extending inland through much of the Wheatbelt where we could see some of those severe storms.

So not only is there severe storms bringing those impacts, but we could also see widespread moderate to heavy rainfall with these fronts. Firstly, Tuesday's front rainfall will be focused around the south west corner with generally 15 to 30mm there. But then as we move through Wednesday, we're going to see that rainfall spread right across much of western and south western WA. With some of those heavier falls starting to accumulate just inland from Perth through the Perth Hills, also to the south of Perth, and maybe some other areas as well, where we could be looking at falls in the 50 to 80 millimetre range while well inland, looking at falls of around 15 to 30mm.

So good news for those that want it in the agricultural areas, but not good news for those areas already fairly saturated in far south-west WA. So with these strong cold fronts coming through tomorrow and on Wednesday, make sure you stay up to date with the latest forecasts and warnings via our website and app and if those storms do get severe where you live, make sure you listen to any advice from emergency services.

Severe weather update: Severe storms, heavy rain for SW WA

18 August 2025

Video current: 12:00 pm AWST Monday 18/08/25.

You may also be interested in