BOM Radar Perth Live: 128km Loops, 256km & Forecast

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Perth (Serpentine) radar gives Western Australians a real-time window into rainfall, wind patterns, and storm development. Updated every five minutes, this essential tool helps you track incoming weather precisely.

Radar Location: Perth (Serpentine) ·
Coverage Radius: 128 km ·
Update Frequency: Every 5-10 minutes ·
Operator: Bureau of Meteorology ·
Additional Views: 256 km, 512 km loops

The table below summarises the key technical specifications for the Perth (Serpentine) radar installation.

BOM Radar Perth Now Live Satellite

The official BOM 128km Perth (Serpentine) radar provides near-real-time imagery directly from the Bureau of Meteorology. To access the live feed, navigate to the BOM radar product page for Perth, which displays continuous rainfall loops updated every five minutes (Bureau of Meteorology). This is the primary source for anyone needing authoritative, government-verified weather data for the Perth region.

Accessing the live radar feed

Visit BOM’s IDR70A product page to see the standard 128km loop showing rain rate across the Perth metropolitan area and surrounding regions. The page displays a continuously animated sequence — you can let it play automatically or manually step through frames to track specific cells. BOM also offers a 1-hour rainfall product (IDR70B) that shows accumulated precipitation, useful for gauging how much rain has actually fallen during a storm event (Bureau of Meteorology).

Satellite integration with radar

While the radar page focuses on precipitation data, BOM integrates satellite imagery on its main weather maps portal. From the rain radar and weather maps page, you can toggle between radar and infrared satellite views, giving you both the rain intensity and the cloud structure driving it (Bureau of Meteorology). This combination helps you distinguish between light scattered showers and organized storm systems.

Current rain and wind visuals

BOM radar images display both rainfall intensity and, on Doppler-enabled products, wind velocity. The colour scale runs from light green (light rain) through yellow and orange to red and pink (heavy rain and potential hail). Wind vectors show direction and speed, letting you see not just where rain is falling but how it’s moving — critical for predicting which areas will be hit next (Bureau of Meteorology).

BOM Perth Radar Loop

Radar loops animate the last hour (or more) of radar imagery, showing you exactly how storm cells have evolved and where they’re heading. For Perth, both the official BOM site and third-party mirrors offer loop playback with varying controls and historical depth.

How to play radar loops

On the official BOM page, loops play automatically but can be paused and scrubbed using the on-screen controls. Click any frame to freeze on that timestamp. If you need deeper historical access, The Weather Chaser offers interactive Perth radar with animation controls, layer adjustments, and frame-by-frame playback — plus up to 500 frames spanning a 14-day period (The Weather Chaser). This is particularly useful after a storm passes, to review how it developed over time.

128 km loop details

The 128km loop is the standard Perth view, centred on Serpentine Airfield. It provides detailed coverage of the Perth metropolitan area, the Perth Hills, and the immediate Swan Coastal Plain. According to Weatherzone, the Serpentine radar has good coverage in all directions, with minimal terrain interference (Weatherzone). This makes it reliable for detecting cells approaching from the west (Indian Ocean) or developing inland over the scarp.

Viewing past hours

To review past hours on TheWeatherChaser, use the date and time selector to choose your window. The interface supports mousewheel zoom and pan on desktop, letting you zero in on specific suburbs or storm features (The Weather Chaser). Historical imagery extends back to March 2005 on TheWeatherChaser, with data available upon request for periods beyond that date (The Weather Chaser). This makes the service valuable for post-event analysis, insurance assessments, or just satisfying curiosity about past weather.

BoM Radar WA Live for Perth

Western Australia’s radar network extends beyond Perth, but the Perth (Serpentine) radar is the primary tool for the lower-west region. Understanding its role in the broader WA network helps you contextualise what you’re seeing on screen and when you might need to check a neighbouring radar instead.

Western Australia radar overview

BoM operates radars at multiple locations across WA, including Watheroo and Esperance as active sites near Perth (The Weather Chaser). These neighbouring radars come into view when you zoom to wider ranges on the Perth page, or when you select the 256km or 512km composite views. For cold fronts approaching from the southwest, Watheroo often shows the system earlier since it’s positioned in the path of incoming maritime air masses.

Perth-specific live view

To focus specifically on Perth, stick with the 128km view on either BOM or TheWeatherChaser. Weatherzone confirms the Perth radar at Serpentine Airfield operates continuously, 24 hours a day, using a Leonardo Meteor 1700SDP S-band system (Weatherzone). S-band radar is particularly effective at detecting heavy rainfall and has good penetration through heavy cloud — an advantage during those thick stratiform rain events that Perth experiences in winter.

Mobile access options

For mobile access, the BOM website is mobile-responsive and loads the radar loop directly in your browser — no app required. If you prefer a dedicated app experience, the AUS Rain Radar app (available on iOS and Google Play) sources BOM data and overlays your GPS location on the radar, making it straightforward to see exactly when rain will reach your position (App Store). The app also provides 7-day BOM forecasts alongside the live radar, so you can check conditions without switching tools.

Bom Radar Perth 512 and Other Sizes

Perth isn’t limited to a single radar view — BOM offers multiple range options, each suited to different monitoring scenarios. Understanding the practical differences between 128km, 256km, and 512km helps you choose the right view for your needs.

Comparing 128 km, 256 km, 512 km

BoM’s radar product suite includes 64km, 128km, 256km, 512km composite, national, and Doppler wind views (Bureau of Meteorology). The 128km view is the default Perth loop — high resolution, covering the metro area and immediate surroundings. The 256km view extends coverage to include the Peel region, parts of the Wheatbelt, and coastal areas south to Mandurah. The 512km composite shows a much broader sweep of WA, useful for tracking large-scale systems like tropical remnants or cold fronts that might eventually affect Perth.

Best use for each range

For local rain and storm timing, the 128km view is sharpest and most useful — you can distinguish individual cells and see fine-scale features like rain shadows and enhancement zones near the scarp. For planning travel or outdoor events across a wider region, the 256km view gives more context. When you’re monitoring a distant weather system that hasn’t arrived yet, the 512km view shows you the full picture, letting you anticipate timing for when it reaches Perth (The Weather Chaser).

Direct links to views

TheWeatherChaser provides direct links to both the 128km Perth radar and the 256km Perth radar, with the same animation controls, layer options, and historical data access on both pages. You can switch between them without reloading the full site, which is handy for comparison during active weather. Perth Airport also has separate radar views on TheWeatherChaser if you want a more airport-centric perspective for flight planning or aviation interests (The Weather Chaser).

Bom Perth 7 Day Forecast with Radar

Radar imagery shows you what’s happening right now, but planning ahead requires forecast data. BOM integrates hourly and multi-day forecasts with radar on the Perth location page, giving you both the current snapshot and the forward outlook in one place.

Hourly and 7-day details

The BOM Perth location page displays an hourly forecast alongside the radar view, so you can correlate expected rainfall with what you’re seeing on the loop. For a broader outlook, Meteorology.com.au provides a 7-day forecast for Perth Airport (31.9324°S 115.9551°E, 8m AMSL) that includes temperature ranges, precipitation probability, and wind direction. Perth’s forecast typically shows partly cloudy conditions with a medium chance of showers during winter and spring, shifting to drier, sunnier patterns in summer (Meteorology).

Integrating radar with forecast

A practical workflow: check the 7-day forecast first to see if significant rain is anticipated, then open the radar to verify whether the predicted systems are actually arriving and tracking as expected. If the forecast shows heavy rain warnings, cross-reference with the BOM radar page which currently indicates no active warnings for the Western Australia region specifically covering Perth Airport (Meteorology) — but note that conditions can change rapidly, and the radar loop will show you real-time intensification before a formal warning is issued.

Current conditions snapshot

For an at-a-glance current conditions view, the Perth Airport forecast page on Meteorology shows the latest observed temperature, wind speed and direction, and current weather description. This gives you the ground truth to compare against what the radar is showing at altitude — sometimes there’s a disconnect between what’s detected aloft (radar) and what’s reaching the surface (observations).

How to Access BOM Perth Radar: Step-by-Step

Two paths exist for accessing Perth radar data: the official BOM source and third-party mirrors. Here’s how to reach each one and what to expect at each step.

Summary

The BOM Perth radar at Serpentine is Western Australia’s primary weather surveillance tool for the lower-west region. With a 128km standard range, 5-minute update frequency, and S-band technology capable of penetrating heavy cloud, it gives Perth residents and visitors reliable real-time insight into rainfall and wind. The 256km and 512km options extend your view for regional and broadscale monitoring. Third-party mirrors like TheWeatherChaser fill gaps when the official BOM site is under maintenance, offering historical data back to 2005 and deeper animation controls. Pair the radar with the BOM Perth 7-day forecast and you have both the now and the ahead — the two pieces every informed weather decision needs. Perth residents should bookmark the 128km loop, keep TheWeatherChaser as a backup, and check the forecast before relying on the loop for planning outdoor activities.

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The official BOM Perth radar delivers essential 128km and 256km loops from Serpentine, while extended 512km radar views provides 512km coverage for tracking distant storms across Western Australia.

Frequently asked questions