Records broken as wild weather whips through South West

Wind gusts up to 76km/h whipped through Bunbury as unseasonal weather swept through the South West on Tuesday night and throughout yesterday.

As a low-pressure system crossed the coast, the weather was even wilder at Cape Naturaliste, where record gusts of 104km/h were measured around 9am yesterday.

At Busselton Jetty there were gusts of up to 87km/h.

“We are not sure if that is a record or not but there was certainly some substantial strength,” Bureau of Meteorology spokesman Neil Bennett said.

While just over 7mm of rain was recorded on Tuesday night in Bunbury, further south at Cape Leeuwin there was 57.2mm of rain up to 9am on yesterday, which broke a 48-year-old record for the most rain on a January day.

A new January rainfall record was also set at Witchcliffe, where 43.8mm of rain fell in the same period.

Winds were expected to ease yesterday afternoon, while there is still a chance of showers today.

Conditions are expected to clear tomorrow, with maximums predicted to be in the high 20s for South West towns on Australia Day.