
Dramatic images have shown power poles sparking into flames after an aggressive storm lashed through Western Australia on Wednesday night.
Parts of Perth were affected by a blackout overnight, with around 50,000 homes and businesses affected, and around 25,000 households were still without electricity on Thursday morning.
A Western Power spokesperson told Daily Mail Australia unique weather from humid and dusty conditions caused the poles to catch alight.
'The misty light drizzling rain, combined with dust and pollution create a paths or "tracks" on the insulators which lets electricity jump across causing damage to poles,' the spokesperson said.












Comment: Record cloud cover is notable because scientist Hernik Svensmark shows that with the coming solar minimum and the resulting increase in cosmic rays on Earth, more cloud cover is created resulting in more heat being reflected back into space and thus global cooling follows - and this is even before taking into account the effects of cometary and volcanic dust:
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