Australia Weather News

A record set in 2010 could be broken with Perth forecast to reach 37C on Easter Saturday. - ABC

Beachgoers have been urged to stick to social distancing rules this Easter long weekend with Perth and parts of the South West set to experience potentially record-breaking heat.

Good Friday is tipped to reach 36 degrees Celsius and Saturday could see heat records tumble if the city climbs slightly above the 37C forecast.

The hottest April day ever recorded in Perth was 37.6C on April 9, 1910.

Police Commissioner Chris Dawson said people were still free to enjoy outdoor activities as long as they stuck to the rules and kept a safe distance from others.

"What we are saying is don't drive away from your home on holidays," he said.

"But yes, you are allowed to go out and exercise, yes you are allowed to go to the beach.

"Going to the beach is not a crime, provided you adhere to the social distancing and you keep 1.5 metres apart."

Police officers will be issuing on-the-spot fines to people who flout the rules and are using drones to issue warnings to people not to gather unnecessarily.

Summer spills into autumn

Perth and parts of the South West are experiencing an unusually prolonged warm spell, more typical of summer.

The city is on track to record six days above 30C with the heat peaking in the high 30s on Saturday.

Perth's April average maximum is 25.9C.

"We're seeing temperatures well above normal across the whole of south-western WA," Bureau of Meteorology state manager James Ashley said.

"Temperatures will be 10 degrees or more above average for this time of the year.

"It's a really hot long weekend in comparison to last year when we had a really cold Good Friday, when it was about 17 degrees in Perth and it snowed on Bluff Knoll.

"So a massive change, probably 20 degrees difference for Perth and a large chunk of the South West."

Cool but humid change forecast

The summery conditions are the result of northerly winds pushing heat from northern and central parts of the state onto the South West.

But later on Saturday, westerly winds will take hold, pulling the temperature back along the west coast.

"It will be cooler along the west coast by the second half of Saturday," Mr Ashley said.

"For places like Perth we'll see the mid to high 30s on Saturday, by Sunday we're dropping back into the high 20s.

"On Easter Sunday we'll have westerly winds and it'll drop to the high 20s in Perth.

"It'll be fairly humid so it will feel quite warm but nowhere near as warm as Friday and Saturday."

The milder conditions will continue early next week, with daytime temperatures ranging in the mid to high 20s.

Perth weather forecast

  • Thursday:Sunny, 17–33
  • Friday:Sunny, 21–36
  • Saturday:Sunny 22–37
  • Sunday:Partly cloudy, 21–29
  • Monday:Mostly sunny, 18–27
  • Tuesday:Partly cloudy, 15–25
  • Wednesday:Partly cloudy, 15–25
  • ABC