Perth Christmas weather: West Aussies head to the beach for celebrations in sweltering heatwave

The beach was the place to be on Christmas Day, with tens of thousands of West Aussies flocking to the water donning their best festive gear as the mercury soared.

Temperatures hit a sizzling high of 41.8C — narrowly avoiding the unwanted record of Perth’s hottest Christmas in 2021 when the city reached a scorching 42.8C.

Perth recorded its high about 3.30pm, and also dodged its record of highest minimum temperature on record, dipping to just 24.8C about 5am.

In light of the extreme heat, City Beach was among those completely packed out on Thursday morning, with families adorned in matching shirts, and groups of friends sharing food and drink.

Nick Slattery spent the morning at the beach with his family, before they headed on to a big family lunch.

He said family had been trying to keep cool in the heatwave conditions and had already moved their Christmas plans inside.

“We will have a water pistol flight at the end of the day to really cool ourselves down,” he said.

“We’ll have the water pistols but end up just having the hose on and then just a lot of ice and the air conditioning on full blast.

“It should be OK, hopefully we can stay cool.”

According to Mr Slattery, Christmas pudding was a highly anticipated part of the day.

“We’ll start off with seafood, as typical Australians so prawns, lobster etc, then we’ll roll into a bit more of the traditional Christmas food, like roast pork, turkey, potatoes,” he said.

“Then finally we’ll top it off with Christmas pudding, handmade all by my mum, it’s full scale, she starts the pudding in November and gets it all prepared.”

Gráinne Arkins spent the morning at the beach with her friends, who had come from Ireland and the UK.

She said she wasn’t quite used to the heat, having not spent summer in Perth before.

“I‘m gonna spend it with all my friends, so we’re all over from Ireland, so it’s good to have everyone together,” she said.

“It’s bit different from a Christmas at home but yeah, it’ll be unreal.

“This is my sixth Christmas in Australia but usually I go over east or something, so it’s good to spend it in Perth for once, I’m excited.”

Despite being on the other side of the world, Ms Arkins was making sure she gets a reminder of home.

“Oh I’ll have a big Irish breakfast, sausages, bacon, black pudding, all the bits, and then barbecue for our dinner, so no proper Christmas dinner,” she said.

“A bit of Irish, a bit of Aussie, a bit of a taste from home and then the Aussie taste as well.”

It wasn’t just the beach where families flocked to cool off, Matilda Bay also proved a popular spot for groups to cool off in the shade while kids played in the Swan River.

Russell Boulden was down with his family as his kids tried out their new Christmas gift, a paddle board.

He said the water was the perfect way to cool off.

“We’ve already opened the presents, had a bit of a cooked breakfast at home, come down here for a bit of a swim and paddle around and then off to see the rest of the family mid-afternoon,” he said.

“After the hot weather we’ve had, it’s bloody brilliant down here.”

Elsewhere in the city temperatures soared past 40C, with Gooseberry Hill, Perth Airport and the Swan Valley recording tops of 43C, 42.8C and 41.4C respectively.

And while Perth sweated through the blistering heat, the weather varied across the rest of the nation.

Those in Mount Wellington near Hobart, Tasmania awoke to snow this morning making it a white Christmas.

Those in the Central Midlands also received a dusting.

Most of the mainland capital cities enjoyed mild weather in the mid- twenties to early thirties, but those in Melbourne had to bristle through a maximum of just 17C.

For some areas the weather was expected to be more extreme, the Cocos Islands had a near brush with Tropical Cyclone Grant, which caused strong winds and heavy rain, but conditions eased through the day as the storm passed.

In Sydney, Anthony Albanese gave a Christmas message after helping serve food at Rev Bill Crews Foundation, a homelessness charity, which was offering free food to people in need.

He acknowledged the Bondi massacre which killed 15 people celebrating Hannukah, saying Christmas was a time for the good in people to rise above hate.

“Christmas is a time of hope, hope over fear is what we need, bravery over cowardice, kindness over violence and togetherness over antisemitism and hate,” he said.

“This is what the spirit of Christmas is about, and that can be celebrated by Christians and non-Christians alike.

“Today, we particularly wrap our arms around the Jewish community, but overwhelmingly, I am an optimist about this great country.”

Perth locals are in for some much-needed cool relief, with temperatures dipping to the high 20s for the rest of the week as a cold front moves through the State’s south coast.

Perth weather:

Boxing Day: Shower or two clearing, 21C - 25C

December 27: Mostly sunny, 13C - 25C

December 28: Sunny, 15C - 29C

December 29: Sunny, 16C - 31C

December 30: Sunny, 15C - 32C

December 31: Sunny, 18C - 34C