Perth weather: Severe thunderstorm warning cancelled for Perth metro area

A severe thunderstorm warning for Perth, Mandurah, Bunbury, Busselton and Margaret River has been cancelled, but authorities are warning of a line of potentially severe thunderstorms forming from Dwellingup to Collie.

The worst of the wild weather predicted to smash parts of WA on Sunday appears to have already passed through the Perth metropolitan, Gascoyne and Central West districts.

One of the West Aussies affected by the storm was Kulin farmer Bryn Davies, who was operating a harvester on his property in the State’s eastern Wheatbelt region when lightning struck the ground just metres away.

“I was in the harvester so it would have been interesting if (the lightning had hit that),” Mr Davies told The West Australian.

The father of three said he couldn’t estimate how close he’d been to where the lightning struck, instead saying: “You know the old saying ‘you see the flash and count the seconds for distance’? There wasn’t any (time in between, it seemed).

A video taken shortly after the lighting bolt struck the ground shows the scorched and smouldering earth left in its wake.

“While that happened, just down the road about 3km away lightning hit a barley crop,” he said. “I was heading back ... to head to the fire at the other person’s property and heard a bang, and an extremely bright light.

“Thought it was sheet lighting.”

Almost 300km west, in Palmyra, residents were also affected, with hail stones pounding pavements, yards and cars just after 3pm.

The Bureau of Meteorology says a deep surface trough is located just inland from the west coast, with a line of potentially severe thunderstorms which have formed from Dwellingup to Collie moving in a generally southerly direction.

Locations that may be affected by the severe thunderstorms, which are likely to produce damaging winds, heavy rainfall that leads to flash flooding, and large hailstones, include Katanning, Manjimup, Mount Barker, Narrogin, Northam and Wongan Hills.

Thunderstorms are also occurring elsewhere in the warning area, and some of these may become severe during this afternoon and evening.

“Severe thunderstorms are no longer occurring in the Gascoyne and Central West districts and the warning for these districts is cancelled,” a BoM warning states. “Severe thunderstorms are also no longer expected in the Perth Metropolitan Area, Mandurah, Bunbury, Busselton or Margaret River.”

The Department of Fire and Emergency Services is urging residents who live in the South West, parts of the Lower West, the South Coastal, the Great Southern and the Central Wheat Belt districts to “take action and stay safe”.

“This weather is not unusual for this time of year, but could damage homes and property and make travel dangerous,” the storm alert says.