Soaking coming for capital after near-record dry month
Updated . First published at
Western Australia’s south-west region was parched last month, recording its second-driest July on record.
But Weatherzone says the forecast for the first full week of August, including for Perth, is set to break that spell.
Wet weather is returning to south-west WA in August. Weatherzone
The Bureau of Meteorology is forecasting rainfalls of up to 15mm for the state capital today.
Skies over the region will stay cloudy, with smaller sprinkles through the week, before a forecast 6mm to 20mm fall on Friday.
It will even continue into next week, with another predicted maximum of 20mm next Monday.
This followed an “unseasonably” dry July for Perth and the region, Weatherzone said, with the south-west only receiving 42.05mm of rain on average across the area.
That’s the second-lowest total on record for July, after a 39.98mm average on 2012.
The 30-year-average for the month from 1961 to 1990 is 112.9mm - meaning this year’s July received just 37.2 per cent of its expected rain.
Some areas of the south-west, Weatherzone said, received their lowest falls on record, such as the 50.9mm that fell on Albany.
“In the big picture, it is widely understood that the southwest corner of Western Australia is being strongly affected by the changing climate, with rainfall declining consistently in recent decades,” Weatherzone said.
“But there were factors behind the dry July which were relevant to current weather patterns too.”
Rainfall declines across Australia in July 2026. BoM/Weatherzone
The biggest of these was a strongly positive Southern Annular Mode, which pushed the usual westerlies and their rain-making cold fronts, south toward the polar region.
However, Weatherzone said, the SAM was now back in neutral, which increased the possibility of rain across the south-west.
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