Weather News

Stormy Easter over WA

Joel Pippard, Sunday April 1, 2018 - 14:14 AEST

Western Australia has seen over 700,000 lightning strikes flash across the skies since Good Friday, with plenty more to come.

An active trough has been producing thunderstorms each afternoon and evening over parts of the state, continuing until Easter Monday.

Thunderstorms just to the north of Kalgoorlie on Saturday saw nearly 70,000 strikes in a 100km radius of the town in just 2 hours. A severe thunderstorm warning was issued for damaging winds, heavy rain and large hail.

Large swathes of the Kimberley and Pilbara also had storms pop up. In the Kimberley, Bidyadanga saw the highest rainfall with 27mm falling into the gauge. Further southwest in the Pilbara, Marble Bar experienced a 7 degree temperature drop and 6mm of rain in just 10 minutes when storms hit around at 6:30pm on Saturday.

Storms are likely to spark up again on Easter Sunday over most of the north and parts of the southeast of WA today. Some of these storms may be severe with damaging wind gusts.

As the trough slowly starts to weaken on Monday, afternoon and evening storms will contract northwest but will still be widespread over the Pilbara and Gascoyne districts.

High pressure will begin to ridge in on Tuesday, making storms much more isolated and the air hotter and drier for most of the state.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2018

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