Extreme weather: WA swelters with the Pilbara forecast to reach 50C

Some West Australians are sweltering through extreme heat, with parts of the state’s north forecast to reach more than 50C.

The Pilbara is expected to hit those intense temperatures either on the weekend or early next week, according to private forecaster Weatherzone.

The hottest Australian temperature ever recorded was 50.7C in the Pilbara town of Onslow on January 13 last year.

Weatherzone predicts that record could break due to a large mass of hot air hovering over the region.

“This air mass has the potential to be hotter than usual, even by the Pilbara’s standards, due to enhanced warming from a phenomenon called subsidence,” the weather site said.

Australia has only registered official temperatures above 50C on seven occasions.

The Bureau of Meteorology has slightly more conservative forecasts for WA’s far north but temperatures are still expected to hit the high 40s.

An official heatwave warning was issued on Thursday for most of the state, except Perth and the southern regions.

The Pilbara is on an extreme heatwave warning, while a severe heatwave is forecast for the Gascoyne, Goldfields, North Interior and South Interior districts.

Residents in those areas have been advised to seek a cool place to stay, such as a home, library, community centre or shopping centre.

The heatwave warning comes as thousands of West Australians are still without power after a freak summer storm wreaked havoc across the state on Tuesday.

More than 7000 homes remain without electricity on Friday morning – with Premier Roger Cook revealing it may take until the end of the weekend for power to be restored to every affected property.

A rare arcus cloud – better known as a roll cloud – over Quinns Rocks - formed during the storm.Credit:Unknown/Supplied

Those impacted by the sweeping blackouts impacting the Perth Hills, Wheatbelt and Goldfields will be eligible for $240 in compensation, double the usual extended outage payment.

Hundreds of Western Power technicians are working to reconnect power lines after “unprecedented” summer storms on Tuesday and Wednesday knocked over major infrastructure, including five 50m tall towers carrying 220KV transmission lines through the Wheatbelt to Kalgoorlie-Boulder.

Mr Cook said those towers had “crumpled like tinfoil” in ferocious thunderstorms that cut a swathe through the Wheatbelt on Wednesday night.

The outages in Kalgoorlie were exacerbated by issues with Synergy’s backup gas generator near the Goldfields town, which Mr Cook said “tripped” when it was initially called into action.

About 31,500 homes were without power as of Thursday morning, but Mr Cook said that had reduced to 7200 as of around 8.30am on Friday.

“The Perth Hills still had 3500 customers without power… the Wheatbelt still has 2000 people without power and Kalgoorlie has now just 1700 people who are still without power,” Mr Cook said.

Perth storm moves over the city on Friday night.Credit:Kane Artie/Severe Weather Australia/Kane Artie/Severe Weather Australia

“Now the Perth Hills and Wheatbelt customers, those final customers, will be reconnected over the next 48 hours and we expect the Kalgoorlie customers to be reconnected by this afternoon.”

The Premier said “extreme weather events” such as the thunderstorms that triggered the blackout were expected to become more frequent and that he had directed the Energy Minister to develop a “resilience package” to safeguard homes and businesses in coastal and wooded areas as well as those “on the edge of the grid”.

“We announced a three quarter of a billion-dollar upgrade to parts of the grid last year, and you’re going to see that sort of investment continuing into the future,” Mr Cook said.