Perth weather: WA hit by scorching temperatures in unusually hot March

Western Australia’s scorching temperatures on Monday had one town reaching a whopping 44C.

Carnarvon sweltered through the State’s highest temperature for Monday, while Perth also extreme autumn temperatures, with some areas only around one degree below the city’s hottest March temperature on record of 42.4C.

Pearce reached 41.6C, Gooseberry Hill reached a steamy 41.4C and Swanbourne hit 31.1C.

The metropolitan area was not far behind, with the temperature reaching 40.1C — making Monday “the latest occurrence of a 40C day in March on record”, according to Senior Bureau meteorologist Joey Rawson.

On Sunday, locals were warned of a “severe heatwave” with the forecast showing five days above 35C.

A Bureau of Meteorology spokesperson said the forecast would have broken the record for “the hottest period this late in March in 40 years”.

Mr Rawson was unsure if this was still the case, given the temperatures have “all been shaved down a little bit”.

The Bureau cancelled the severe heatwave warning at 1.19pm on Monday for the Gascoyne, Lower West, South West and Great Southern districts.

Although the heatwave has been downgraded, low intensity heatwave conditions are expected to continue over the Gascoyne region and South West until the weekend — with maximum temperatures of mid to high thirties and overnight temperatures reaching low twenties.