South West records dry and warm winter

Dry and warm describes the winter just gone for WA, with the State recording the lowest rainfall total since 2006. Bunbury recorded a slightly warmer than average winter, with mean highest and lowest temperatures of 18.4C and 8.2C respectively, both 0.6C above average. The warmest winter day was June 5 when the city recorded 22.6C before plummeting to 0.1C on the coldest day, July 12. In line with a dry season, Bunbury failed to hit its average rainfall (395mm), coming up 48.2mm short. Bureau of Meteorology manager of climate operations Andrew Watkins said while the start to winter was very dry for the country, August was the first wetter-than-average since 2016. Throughout the rest of the South West, the hottest winter day was claimed by Donnybrook on June 6, when the town recorded 23.5C. On the other end of the spectrum, -2.3C was the coldest temperature recorded with Collie East shivering through a chilly July 12. Bridgetown made the State list of places that recorded their highest winter mean temperature when it matched its 2014 record of 11.4C. The region dominated BOM’s strong winds list, with Cape Leeuwin home to the strongest gust of 117km/h on June 17, along with recording gusts in excess of 110km/h on three other occasions. For the new season, BOM is predicting Bunbury has an equal chance of above median rainfall (163mm) and above the median maximum (21C) and minimum (10.4C) temperatures over the next three months. Dr Watkins said overnight temperatures were likely to be above average across Australia, with the exception of WA’s South West. He said spring was typically a time of year when outlook models had a higher reliability. “We’re starting to see that in the Pacific with a La Nina beginning to take shape, and changes in the Indian Ocean could boost the chance of rain during spring.”