SW enters ‘fifth month’ of winter

The South West is now entering its “fifth month of winter”, with another cold front expected to hit tomorrow.

Bureau of Meteorology senior climate liaison officer Glenn Cook said it could be argued the region had seen five months of winter this year, with May experiencing below-average temperatures and September continuing the “winter feel”.

This is expected to continue this weekend as another cold front moves over the South West.

“It should be a wet and windy weekend, particularly on Saturday,” Mr Cook said.

Local weather observations indicate daytime winter temperatures well below average for winter, while overnight temperatures have been slightly below average.

Winter rainfall has been slightly above average, with the Busselton Aerodrome reporting about 60mm more than the region’s 369.2 mm average rainfall.

“Temperatures were below average in May in the South West, and the cool conditions have certainly continued into September, with September 2016 on track to be one of the coolest at Busselton Aerodrome since records commenced in 1998, and also one of the coolest in the South West in general,” Mr Cook said.

Mr Cook said the South West had been under a more southerly wind regime this year, leading to cooler sea surface temperatures near the coast and generally cooler than normal temperatures over land.