Severe weather warning issued for parts of WA as ex-tropical cyclone Mitchell tracks inland

Perth has woken to a muggy and drizzly morning as ex-tropical cyclone Mitchell crossed the WA coast in the early hours of Tuesday.

The Bureau of Meteorology downgraded Mitchell to an ex-tropical cyclone overnight before it crossed the Gascoyne coast east of Shark Bay at 1am.

Gascoyne Junction recorded a whopping 132mm of rain since 9am on Monday and Shark Bay Airport received 104.2mm in the past 48 hours.

Several sites in the south-west Gascoyne region are still being subject to heavy rainfall, including Bullardoo and Greenough River, and Pindarring Rocks has had 41.8mm in the past two hours.

The rainfall is set to continue as a severe weather warning has been issued for the central Wheatbelt and parts of the Gascoyne and Central West regions, including heavy to locally intense rainfall between 25mm and 50mm, which may lead to flash flooding.

A cyclone advice warning remains in place for Shark Bay and Denham, including tourist hotspot Monkey Mia, although the threat has been reduced.

There has also been a minor flood warning issued for the Fitzroy River at Fitzroy Crossing in the Kimberley, as well as “small” river rises along the Moore River.

The ex-tropical cyclone is continuing to move in a south-easterly direction and will be “decaying” in strength, according to BOM meteorologist Grace Abbott, so the Perth metropolitan area will be spared the brunt of the weather: just 2.2mm of rain has fallen in the last 24 hours.

“Perth is in the periphery of a cloud band that is extending off ex-tropical cyclone Mitchell, and we have seen some showers this morning,” she said.

“That is expected to clear off gradually into this afternoon, though it will remain quite muggy throughout today. . .From tomorrow, we’re going to start to gradually dry out so that relative humidity will dry out as well.”

The metro area is set to return to its classic dry heat for the rest of the week, according to Ms Abbott.

“It’s sunny all throughout the forecast through to Monday, sitting between 28 to 30C maximum,” she said.

PERTH WEATHER FORECAST

• Tuesday: Rain, 25 🌧️
• Wednesday: Mostly sunny, 17-30 ⛅️
• Thursday: Sunny, 14-29 ☀️
• Friday: Sunny, 16-30 ☀️
• Saturday: Sunny, 19-30 ☀️
• Sunday: Sunny, 18-29 ☀️
• Monday: Sunny, 17-28☀️

Forecast sourced from the Bureau of Meteorology.