This is my first autumn in Perth. The weather has been distinctly cooler the last few days, mid 20's during the day & quite cool at night (we've needed a duvet the last couple of nights). So is this the end of the hot weather or is this just a cool snap?

The forecast is for low 30's maximums for the next week. I don't think it's Autumnal just yet. When it does get cold you'll need more than a duvet to stave off hypothermia.

I'm pondering getting a warmer duvet out too. While this house keeps beautifully cool in summer, I suspect it will be bloody (oops, sorry) freezing during the winter. It was very cold first thing this morning down here in PK. About 14° - mind, in the UK I wouldn't have thought that cold, but after an Ozzie summer, it's decidedly brrrr....

I've noticed how much the nights have drawn in these past two or three weeks, and the past two days we've had leaves blowing around our garden. Fall is coming....

Na just a cool snap, you can still expect plenty of days in the 30's this month and still in the high 20's well into May (29/05/05 - 28.2C) The nights will start to get cooler and if it like last year, it suddenly plummeted at the start of June and it was cold and wet.
I think its more like 2 seasons here, summer and winter, summer from around end of Nov for 6months and then winter for the rest, but winter is more like a bad uk summers day , (it regularily gets to around 20C in the day) but the nights get very cold when there's no cloud cover. (2 - 5C)

Point taken. It's 30c in the CBD at the moment, so about normal then. I guess I've become conditioned to the hot weather again & now 19c at night feels cold whereas in the UK that would be considered 'balmy'.

Just wait until you get those mid july mornings and your walking along the Terrace to get into the office, the sun hasnt risen above the buildings yet and the winds howling down the street and it feels about -5, they do a roaring trade in scarfs around that time

When we first arrived I was astonished that people were actually in the shops buying scarves, woolly hats, sheepskin boots and thick, woolly coats. It's very hard to think of *Australia* and *cold* in the same sentence. I'm actually looking forward to winter though.

Before we get there, are there any magnificent thunderstorms to come, or are they a myth?

No, they are quite spectacular.... then there's the high winds which sound like they're going to take your pergola off - very Wizard of Oz

Is there a *time* of year for those, Larissa? I'm really looking forward to some cracking thunderstorms. We've only had one half-hearted one since we arrived here in WA last September....

We seemed to have LOADS between July and September. Made the mistake of renting on the Ocean front with our bedroom upstairs and facing West. Really thought the windows were coming in on several occasions.

There was a fabulous electric storm sometime before Christmas, we watched it from the balcony (in our own home) and it was spectacular.

mid 20s cool
Just dropped the kids off at school my car said its 2 degrees (very clever talking car!! ) now thats chilli
my kids were getting in the unheated pool in temps of early 20s last summer (well the week or so we had)

Better get your thermals ready!!!

kris xx

This was my introduction to Perth last year.

April 1st (yeah I thought it was a joke too) we arrived in Perth to howling winds, lashing rain and 12 degrees. We had left Adelaide that morning baking in 35 degrees. I thought the pilot had gone to UK by mistake. He told us it was the coldest day in April for 20 years - still it didn't put us off and at least we know how bad it can get.

It was about 22 the next day and just got better

hi all

nice to read so much about perth...pretty new to this forum and often find stuff about east coast but not west

me hubby and i heading your way in sept 06 - any top hints would be greatly appreciated i.e. how long took you to find rental, suburbs to avoid!!

So April and May are still likely to be warm then as planning trip around this time of year for a rekkie and not to sure what to pack

I remember that is was quite strange, I think it caught a lot of people out who hadnt seen the forecast. Still it was back up to 36degrees about a week later. I guess its a bit like in Spring and you go from low 20's to a freak day of being mid 30's.