Storm season

You know winter is coming to Perth when the rains arrive.

We have a remarkably livable climate here.

For most of the year it’s pretty much awesome – can be a bit too hot in the summer, and the lack of insulation and central heating can make winter a bit chilly, but for the most part – it’s peachy.

But did you know we get more rain in Perth than in London?

Most people in Perth wouldn’t know it either, because for 4 or 5 months, it hardly rains. But it catches up. Oh boy does it. And Winter is storm season.

We had a really squally set of fronts come through last weekend and I thought, in my infinite wisdom that would try to get some pictures!

I drove the very short distance to one of the beach carparks and braving the breeze, walked out to the top of the dunes for a picture.

Oh shit! See the horizon is obscured and there’s that milky line on the ocean? Squall front. Rain and lots of it. I snapped this one shot then ran back to the car. The rain swept over moments after I shut the door, rattling hard on the glass and roof – lucky escape – if I’d got there 10 seconds later I would have been 10 metres from the car when the rain hit!

I decided that I needed a better view of the ocean from the car – things were too unpredictable to be walking out without being able to see what was coming my way – so I drove a few hundred metres down the bay and parked up in one of the car parks that has a slightly higher vantage point.

Looking south and west down towards Port Kennedy, Long Point and Mandurah, I could see the rain sweeping in. The ocean, usually pretty benign, was churning hard and had totally overwhelmed the beach (there’s normally 15-20 metres of sand from the dunes to the water). I need to go check it out again actually – there may have been some decent sand erosion.

I tried some motion pans – this was the best of them.

Then the rain started sweeping in again – the little sliver of sunlight coming from who knows where was gradually being threatened by some of the darkest skies I’ve ever seen.

Pretty soon, the tell tale pulse of wind swept over, along with it a few spots of rain and it was time to run back up the steps before the rain front came over and blotted out the landscape again.