03.23.10

World Wide Weather #1: Perth, Australia

Posted in Non-US Weather, Weather News at 3:20 pm by Rebekah

Today marks the start of a series of posts on global weather.  Most of us, understandably, are most concerned with the climate and weather in our particular neck of the woods; however, I think it can be both fun and educational to take a look at weather in other parts of the globe.

This week’s featured city is Perth, Australia (click for a Yahoo! maps link).

Home to over 1.6 million people, Perth is the capital of and largest city in the state of Western Australia.  A few facts about Perth:

• Time zone: Australian Western Standard Time (UTC+8)
• Elevation: Sea level
• Climate zone: Mediterranean (hot/dry summers, cool/wet winters)
• Average high temperature: 76 °F (24.5 °C)
• Average low temperature: 55 °F (12.7 °C)
• Record high temperature: 115 °F (46.2 °C)
• Record low temperature: 31 °F (-0.7 °C)
• Average annual precipitation: 33.6 inches (852.6 mm)

Recent weather: Late Monday afternoon (March 22), Perth was hit by several severe thunderstorms that brought golfball-sized hail (1.75-inch-diameter), heavy rain, flooding, landslides, lightning, and wind gusts of over 75 mph.  Damage from the storms is estimated at $100 million.  Perth receives on average about 0.8 inches of rain in the month of March, and almost all of this rain fell in less than 10 minutes yesterday.  A total of 1.6 inches of rain fell in the afternoon and evening.

A low-pressure trough came ashore in the afternoon, sparking the formation of several strong thunderstorms (see radar images, below, from the Bureau of Meteorology).

Forecast weather: High pressure is headed for the West Coast of Australia, so warm and dry conditions are expected to persist in Perth throughout this week.  According to the Bureau of Meteorology, highs are forecast to range from near 84 °F to 90 °F under mostly sunny skies, with lows ranging from 57 °F to 66 °F.

For more information on Perth, here’s a link to Wikipedia.

For more information on the recent severe thunderstorms, here’s a BBC news article, and here’s a news article from The West Australian.

For weather maps and information on Perth weather, see the Australian Bureau of Meteorology.

Next week I’ll take a look at the climate and weather in another part of the globe.  If you find these posts interesting or helpful, if you have suggestions, or if you have a city or country you’d like to recommend for next time, please leave a comment!

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