Temperature almost hits 44 degrees as Perth swelters through third heat wave of summer

The third heatwave of summer is taking temperatures to new heights, with blistering days and sultry nights.

This one is pretty brutal – daytime temperatures soared to almost 44 degrees in the city, and close to 50 degrees in coastal towns. And there’s little relief when the sun goes down.

The coolest it dipped to was 27 degrees in the city overnight and 31 in our north eastern suburbs, making it a very uncomfortable night’s sleep.

All this – while a category four cyclone swirled off the WA coast, with the extreme weather from one end of the state to the other means we’re seeing heat and rain records break on the same day.

Karratha had its wettest day in 20 years on Monday, recording more than 270 millimetres of rain.

Busselton, Collie and Gingin sweltered through record hot January temperatures, while Geraldton reached 49.3 degrees, its equal hottest day.

Perth had a late maximum of 43.6 degrees on Monday, and other suburbs reached almost 46 degrees.

By 6am this morning, the Swan Valley had already climbed to 35 degrees.

BOM WA Meteorologist Jessica Lingard said gusty winds are dragging warm air down to Perth.

“It’s being driven by a stationary west coast trough, driving hot, dry air down from further north,” she said. “This is currently the third heatwave for the Perth metro area, generally across summer we do see about five heatwaves, with about two of them to be severe heatwaves.”

More than half of WA is under a low to extreme heatwave warning this week and there are heat stroke warnings from the Health Department.

BOM Australia’s Miriam Bradbury said the real relief won’t be until the weekend. “That heat is being held in place by these low pressure troughs and it’s not going anywhere.”

“This is what the heatwave is all about…that persistent, above average temperature during the day and at night, occurring over a period of three days or more,“ she continued. “Now really, that’s just emphasising how intense that heat has been and will continue to be over the next little while.”

The other extreme event is Cyclone Sean, which triggered flooding and destructive winds in WA’s north west.

The cyclone intensified to a category four system, with wind gusts of up to 250 kilometres per hour at its peak.

Thankfully it’s heading away from the coast, so damaging winds and heavy rain is easing.

As for Perth, we’re likely to get some showers on Saturday.

“Severe Tropical Cyclone Sean will downgrade to a tropical low by Thursday,” Ms Lingard said. “The remnants of the system will move through the southwest during the weekend, bringing light showers to the region.”

This will be a very welcome cool change.

But we’re only halfway through summer! So there’s plenty more heat to come.

Looking to beat the heat this week? Here’s Perth’s best water parks, beaches and swimming pools to help you out!