Weather News

600 thousand lightning strikes in WA

Anthony Sharwood, Thursday October 3, 2024 - 14:09 AEST

Skies over Western Australia were ablaze overnight, with the first major outbreak of spring lightning anywhere in Australia.

Weatherzone's Total Lightning Network detected 605,166 lightning strikes on Wednesday, October 2, as widespread thunderstorms lashed the interior of the state.

Image: The cold front crossing WA overnight.

Spring is generally a busy time for lightning in Australia's temperate zone (anywhere south of the tropics) as contrasting airmasses cause instability in the atmosphere.

That was certainly the case in Western Australia in the last 24 hours as a broad cut-off low in association with a cold front crossing the state led to a sharp contrast in hot and cold airmasses.

As the two airmasses interacted with the extra ingredient of tropical moisture from the northwest, all the elements for thunderstorms were both present and abundant.

The rainfall that accompanied the storms and lightning is reflected in the chart below.

Image: 24-hour rainfall totals across WA to 8 am Thursday.

As you can see, there were some useful falls in some arid areas (the yellow and orange patches on the chart), including 25mm at Forest – a remote weather station on the Nullarbor Plain.

And the dangerous West Australian weather is not done yet.

In the wake of the cold front crossing the state, the vigorous southwesterly airstream in its wake has resulted in a severe weather warning issued on Thursday morning for damaging winds on parts of the South Coastal and South East Coastal forecast districts.

Cape Leeuwin and Cape Naturaliste observed 94.5km/h and 98.2km/h wind gusts respectively early on Thursday morning, while Rottnest Island just off Perth copped a 87 km/h gust.

Conditions will slowly moderate in coming days in southwest WA with winds and showers gradually easing, although top temps will remain coolish for October.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2024

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