Tropical Cyclone Narelle is now Ex-Tropical Cyclone Narelle as it has been reclassified as a tropical low pressure area. However, this is still expected to bring severe weather to large parts of Western Australia today on Saturday. So that's why I'm here at the Bureau Saturday morning with a Severe Weather Update, getting this one out nice and early. It's just gone 6 am, Western Australia time. Let's check out what has been going on with Tropical Cyclone Narelle. Now I don't want to spend too much time looking backwards, so really quick recap of the last 24 hours. Narelle moved past the north-western corner of the state as a severe Category 4 Tropical Cyclone yesterday, brought some intense severe weather around Exmouth, Onslow, Learmonth and the North West Cape. Wind gusts of 200 km/h, rainfall of about 300 mm. Then yesterday it moved into the north-west of the state. Overnight last night, it was mostly a Category 2 Tropical Cyclone moving southwards and this morning it has just been reclassified as a Tropical Low pressure area. It is just to the east of Kalbarri and Geraldton, as we'll see in a moment.
On our radar, we can see quite a lot of rain across the south-west of the state from Jurien Bay down to Albany, including around the Perth area, and we will continue to see some weather impacts, particularly rainfall, but also some strong wind as this weather system keeps on moving southwards. So this is where it's located at the moment, eastern parts of the Central West and parts of the Gascoyne as well. This is going to move southwards today through the Wheatbelt later on this morning as we head through to lunchtime, then down into the Great Southern and even across to the Esperance coastline this afternoon and this evening. This is the Tropical Low here. If we keep playing it, by the time we get to about 8, 9, 10 pm, something like that this evening, notice how it moves off the south coast and into the southern ocean. And this will be the final time we say farewell to Narelle. It will continue to move southwards, so our focus for severe weather is very much on Saturday.
We can just quickly look at Sunday and watch Narelle continue to disappear to the south, and a much more settled weather pattern sets up across Western Australia. There will still be a few showers here and there over the inland and parts of the west coast, but no more of that heavy rainfall, no more strong or damaging wind gusts, and overall a much sunnier and more settled picture. So our Severe Weather Warnings are very much focused on Saturday’s weather. This is the large Severe Weather Warning we have in place at the moment. It is near and around the Ex-Tropical cyclone at the moment, but stretching right along its path down to Esperance and the south coast. Do note that the west coast is not in the warning, so all areas from Kalbarri down to Bunbury, including Perth and Albany, are not in the warning area. They will see some rain in those areas through the course of today, certainly, but perhaps not widespread heavy falls expected. We could get some local pockets of heavy rain along the west coast, and we may see some isolated areas of flooding, but certainly the more widespread weather impacts are expected on and east of where this low area is moving. So that is where the warning is located.
It's a multi-faceted warning as well. It includes the risk of damaging winds. We could see wind gusts up to 120 km/h this morning, particularly in this northern third of the warning region up around here. As we get into this afternoon and this evening, those peak wind gusts do drop down a little bit, but we could continue to see wind gusts of 100 km/h through the second half of the day until that low pressure area moves off the south coast very late tonight. When it comes to rainfall, we could see six-hour rainfall totals of 30 mm to 50 mm kind of anywhere in this warning zone, but we could see perhaps up to about 70 mm over the coming six hours through the course of this morning, again most likely up around the northern half of this warning area. As we push into the afternoon, things up here will start to ease off and the severe weather focus will shift down through the southern half of the warning region.
So just quickly to recap a couple of the impacts that we could still see with this Ex-Tropical Cyclone system. Well, the rainfall is going to be a double-edged sword. There will be a bit of good news there because we are coming to the end of what has been a pretty dry summer, so the rain is going to be welcome in growing areas. But of course, when the rain comes on too heavy, too hard and too fast, it does lead to a risk of flash flooding and potential riverine flooding as well, and there is a Flood Watch in place for many western rivers through WA today. The combination of the rainfall and the damaging wind can lead to damage to houses. That could be broken windows or broken roofs and fences, and it can also knock down large branches or potentially entire trees and lead to power outages. And we certainly expect a lot of water on the roads. That can lead to disruption and delays as you're travelling about Western Australia today and into tomorrow, as the rain will continue to impact the state.
Stay up to date throughout the course of Saturday. That Severe Weather Warning area will be updated across today, so you can always find the latest warning on the Bureau's website or app. Thanks for watching and do stay safe.
On our radar, we can see quite a lot of rain across the south-west of the state from Jurien Bay down to Albany, including around the Perth area, and we will continue to see some weather impacts, particularly rainfall, but also some strong wind as this weather system keeps on moving southwards. So this is where it's located at the moment, eastern parts of the Central West and parts of the Gascoyne as well. This is going to move southwards today through the Wheatbelt later on this morning as we head through to lunchtime, then down into the Great Southern and even across to the Esperance coastline this afternoon and this evening. This is the Tropical Low here. If we keep playing it, by the time we get to about 8, 9, 10 pm, something like that this evening, notice how it moves off the south coast and into the southern ocean. And this will be the final time we say farewell to Narelle. It will continue to move southwards, so our focus for severe weather is very much on Saturday.
We can just quickly look at Sunday and watch Narelle continue to disappear to the south, and a much more settled weather pattern sets up across Western Australia. There will still be a few showers here and there over the inland and parts of the west coast, but no more of that heavy rainfall, no more strong or damaging wind gusts, and overall a much sunnier and more settled picture. So our Severe Weather Warnings are very much focused on Saturday’s weather. This is the large Severe Weather Warning we have in place at the moment. It is near and around the Ex-Tropical cyclone at the moment, but stretching right along its path down to Esperance and the south coast. Do note that the west coast is not in the warning, so all areas from Kalbarri down to Bunbury, including Perth and Albany, are not in the warning area. They will see some rain in those areas through the course of today, certainly, but perhaps not widespread heavy falls expected. We could get some local pockets of heavy rain along the west coast, and we may see some isolated areas of flooding, but certainly the more widespread weather impacts are expected on and east of where this low area is moving. So that is where the warning is located.
It's a multi-faceted warning as well. It includes the risk of damaging winds. We could see wind gusts up to 120 km/h this morning, particularly in this northern third of the warning region up around here. As we get into this afternoon and this evening, those peak wind gusts do drop down a little bit, but we could continue to see wind gusts of 100 km/h through the second half of the day until that low pressure area moves off the south coast very late tonight. When it comes to rainfall, we could see six-hour rainfall totals of 30 mm to 50 mm kind of anywhere in this warning zone, but we could see perhaps up to about 70 mm over the coming six hours through the course of this morning, again most likely up around the northern half of this warning area. As we push into the afternoon, things up here will start to ease off and the severe weather focus will shift down through the southern half of the warning region.
So just quickly to recap a couple of the impacts that we could still see with this Ex-Tropical Cyclone system. Well, the rainfall is going to be a double-edged sword. There will be a bit of good news there because we are coming to the end of what has been a pretty dry summer, so the rain is going to be welcome in growing areas. But of course, when the rain comes on too heavy, too hard and too fast, it does lead to a risk of flash flooding and potential riverine flooding as well, and there is a Flood Watch in place for many western rivers through WA today. The combination of the rainfall and the damaging wind can lead to damage to houses. That could be broken windows or broken roofs and fences, and it can also knock down large branches or potentially entire trees and lead to power outages. And we certainly expect a lot of water on the roads. That can lead to disruption and delays as you're travelling about Western Australia today and into tomorrow, as the rain will continue to impact the state.
Stay up to date throughout the course of Saturday. That Severe Weather Warning area will be updated across today, so you can always find the latest warning on the Bureau's website or app. Thanks for watching and do stay safe.
Severe weather update: Ex-TC Narelle brings rain and wind to WA today
28 March 2026
Video current: 6:30 am AWST Saturday 28/03/26.