I'm Angus here at the Bureau of Meteorology. This is a Severe Weather Update. It is Tuesday, the 4th of November. This is the radar imagery from this morning—let's put it onto a loop. We can see that first thing this morning there were just patchy showers, but this band has started to fill in a little bit over the last few hours. We expect that amplification to continue through the day today and in particular as we head into tomorrow, as rain becomes a little more extensive and widespread. So far, rainfall totals have been modest, mostly inland and south of Perth.
What is happening—what is the culprit? It’s primarily being driven by a low-pressure area off the west coast, which developed yesterday evening and has intensified through the course of the morning. Across Tuesday, it will stay out over the western waters, not having a direct impact on the country, but it is spinning a spiral of cloud, showers, and potential thunderstorms across parts of Western Australia. There are also some fairly strong gusty winds rotating around this low-pressure area.
Thunderstorms could be a key part of the weather for the second half of the day today. The thunderstorm map for Tuesday shows where we could see storms. The yellow indicates areas where severe thunderstorms might develop, mostly inland and north of Perth. It could reach the far northeast of the Perth metro area, but it’s more likely over the escarpment into the central Wheatbelt and southern parts of the Gascoyne. If we do see severe thunderstorms today, the most likely cause will be heavy rainfall leading to localized flash flooding.
The weather situation is expected to amplify tomorrow, on Wednesday, as the low-pressure area to the west moves onshore, likely crossing the coastline near Geraldton. We could also see a secondary low-pressure circulation develop to the south of it. The combination of these two lows is likely to bring widespread wet and stormy weather across the southern half of the state during Wednesday.
Wednesday’s storm map covers a much larger area. Once again, the most likely regions for severe thunderstorms are inland—across the eastern hills of Perth, the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, Goldfields, and interior. A broad area may be affected by severe storms, bringing a range of hazards including heavy rain, flash flooding, large hail, and damaging wind gusts. The red area shows where severe thunderstorms are most likely tomorrow, stretching southwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder down towards Hyden and Norseman.
These severe storms could cause damage to trees and property from strong winds or large hailstones. We could see water across roads, potential road closures, localized flooding, and impacts on agriculture, including crops and harvesting across the southern half of Western Australia.
Looking briefly at Thursday, the main story is one of improvement. Weather conditions should clear as the low moves away to the south. Showers will continue along the southern coastline from Eucla to Albany, but the rest of the state should experience settled, sunny, and calmer weather once the low departs.
Finally, the overall rainfall between now and Thursday night shows how much this weather event could bring. Extensive rain is expected for most areas south of Carnarvon, though the signal is patchy, indicating variable rainfall depending on where thunderstorms form. Areas that do see storms could receive 30 to 50 millimetres, possibly more if severe thunderstorms develop. In between storms, rainfall will be much lighter—some places may see only 1 or 2 millimetres, or none at all. Most of the southern half of the state should see at least a little rain.
Stay up to date with the radar, warnings, and your local forecast, all available on the Bureau’s website and app. Thanks for watching.
What is happening—what is the culprit? It’s primarily being driven by a low-pressure area off the west coast, which developed yesterday evening and has intensified through the course of the morning. Across Tuesday, it will stay out over the western waters, not having a direct impact on the country, but it is spinning a spiral of cloud, showers, and potential thunderstorms across parts of Western Australia. There are also some fairly strong gusty winds rotating around this low-pressure area.
Thunderstorms could be a key part of the weather for the second half of the day today. The thunderstorm map for Tuesday shows where we could see storms. The yellow indicates areas where severe thunderstorms might develop, mostly inland and north of Perth. It could reach the far northeast of the Perth metro area, but it’s more likely over the escarpment into the central Wheatbelt and southern parts of the Gascoyne. If we do see severe thunderstorms today, the most likely cause will be heavy rainfall leading to localized flash flooding.
The weather situation is expected to amplify tomorrow, on Wednesday, as the low-pressure area to the west moves onshore, likely crossing the coastline near Geraldton. We could also see a secondary low-pressure circulation develop to the south of it. The combination of these two lows is likely to bring widespread wet and stormy weather across the southern half of the state during Wednesday.
Wednesday’s storm map covers a much larger area. Once again, the most likely regions for severe thunderstorms are inland—across the eastern hills of Perth, the Wheatbelt, Great Southern, Goldfields, and interior. A broad area may be affected by severe storms, bringing a range of hazards including heavy rain, flash flooding, large hail, and damaging wind gusts. The red area shows where severe thunderstorms are most likely tomorrow, stretching southwest of Kalgoorlie-Boulder down towards Hyden and Norseman.
These severe storms could cause damage to trees and property from strong winds or large hailstones. We could see water across roads, potential road closures, localized flooding, and impacts on agriculture, including crops and harvesting across the southern half of Western Australia.
Looking briefly at Thursday, the main story is one of improvement. Weather conditions should clear as the low moves away to the south. Showers will continue along the southern coastline from Eucla to Albany, but the rest of the state should experience settled, sunny, and calmer weather once the low departs.
Finally, the overall rainfall between now and Thursday night shows how much this weather event could bring. Extensive rain is expected for most areas south of Carnarvon, though the signal is patchy, indicating variable rainfall depending on where thunderstorms form. Areas that do see storms could receive 30 to 50 millimetres, possibly more if severe thunderstorms develop. In between storms, rainfall will be much lighter—some places may see only 1 or 2 millimetres, or none at all. Most of the southern half of the state should see at least a little rain.
Stay up to date with the radar, warnings, and your local forecast, all available on the Bureau’s website and app. Thanks for watching.
Severe weather update: Risk of storms for much of southern WA
04 November 2025
Video current: 9.30 am AWST Tuesday 4/11/25.