Western Australia experienced a roller-coaster of weather in October, with everything from above-average heat and chilly mornings to an isolated hailstorm.
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The changeable conditions kept the whole state guessing what would be next and ABC readers once again captured how varied WA's spring weather can be, from storms and hail to sunny beach weather and beautiful sunrises.
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And while the month began fairly uneventfully in Perth, with classic spring weather and daytime temperatures in the metro in the low 20s, it wasn't long until conditions began to switch up.
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The first week of October saw a mixed bag of conditions, with a slow-moving low pressure trough producing isolated thunderstorms across the Goldfields and parts of the Gascoyne and Interior, along with rain across large swathes of the state's South West.
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A storm triggered by a combination of surface and upper-level troughs brought thousands of lightning strikes to far northern and eastern parts of Perth.
Thunder rumbled overhead and lightning lit up the sky in parts of the Mid West and the Central Wheatbelt, prompting plenty of photos in the weather inbox.
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Despite the impressive storm activity from this system, rainfall totals remained low, with the most in Kalannie with 12 millimetres.
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It wasn't just lightning that piqued our interest this October, with hail reported in Exmouth during a thunderstorm.
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It is a rare sight in the coastal town, because conditions are usually too warm for hail to form.
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Exmouth local Jackie Brooks said it was the first time she had seen hail in her 30 years of living in Exmouth.
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"It was a huge surprise to be woken up at 5am, sounded like bullet holes," she said.
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"Being in Exmouth, usually with blue skies, to have hailstones here has just been incredible."
Average temperatures broken
Temperatures across WA were just as varied, with both daytime highs and overnight lows delivering some surprises throughout October.
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While the south experienced some unusually chilly mornings, the north sweltered through temperatures well above average.
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In Halls Creek, where the average October maximum is 37.2C, the warmest October day for 2026 peaked at 42C.
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Conditions were also warm in Broome, which reached 41.2C, almost 10C above its October average of 33C.
Other towns across the north also recorded some significant heat:
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Perth also had a warmer-than-average month, recording at least 12 days above its October average maximum of 23.4C.
In stark contrast, there was a burst of chilly mornings across southern WA in October, which according to the bureau was an unusual, but not uncommon occurrence.
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Towards the end of the month, a weak cold front pushed cool air across a large area of the Great Southern and parts of the Goldfields, bringing frost to some areas.
Narrogin dropped to 0C, well below its October average minimum of 7.5C.
Collie in the South West wasn't far behind, recording a minimum of 0.1C, compared with its average of 7.4C.
Rain totals fall short
In the last week of the month, cold fronts and low-pressure troughs saw rainfall and showers, particularly to the south-west corner and the interior.
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These systems helped drenched parts of the region and left them wetter than average, including North Walpole, which received 118 millimetres of rain.
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The interior also saw significant totals, with Warburton ending the month with five times its average rainfall.
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But in Perth, rainfall once again fell short, with 38.6mm in the gauge this October, when the average is 40mm.
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It marks the sixth consecutive month of below-average rainfall for the city, following a dry winter and September.
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Looking ahead, the Bureau of Meteorology's long-range forecast points to an increased chance of unusually high rainfall across southern parts of WA from November onwards.
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Both daytime and overnight temperatures are expected to remain about average across most of Australia.
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But after six months of below-average rainfall, the question is whether Perth will finally see some decent rain before summer arrives.
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If you have a great weather photo you'd like to see featured in ABC Perth's 7PM News or online, send them through to waweather@abc.net.au.
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The Aporia