La Niña weather system contributes to rainfall total of 21 per cent above long term average

The La Niña weather system which hit the Territory this wet season saw rainfall totals reach levels not seen in four years.

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THE La Niña weather system which hit the Territory contributed to rainfall totals of 21 per cent above the long term average, and the highest amount since the 2016/17 wet season.

Bureau of Meteorology senior climatologist Rebecca Patrick said a number of records had been broken thanks to the weather system which brought cooler temperatures along with the rainfall.

“Australia has also seen some good rainfall over the last few months, particularly in March, where they have above average rainfall and that did contribute to some cooler daytime temperatures as well,” she said.

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“We broke some records in southern parts of the NT for the coldest temperature.”

It included 3.9C at Alice Springs Airport for the coldest night and 12.5C at Arltunga and Watarrka for the coldest day.

The wettest day saw 327.4mm fall at King Ash Bay on February 19, while the wettest location was Labelle Downs with a total of 2328.8mm over the wet season.

However a few months of transition have teased Territorians, with no indication of when the last drops of rain may fall.

“Through April we have seen a bit of a transition month and particularly over the last couple of weeks we’ve seen some dry bursts, followed by a little bit of rainfall,” Ms Patrick said.

“This week we are expecting a pretty dry week across the Top End, a little bit of humidity over the next couple of days but that dry air kicking in towards the end of the week could see some lower minimum temperatures.

“May can be a little bit of a transition month as well, we do see dry bursts followed by more humid bursts. We are expecting for this dry season to be a below average in terms of the rainfall so expecting fairly dry-dry season.”

The heavy wet could contribute to busy dry and bushfire season for Top End residents and firefighters.

“With that extra rainfall, we have seen a lot of the grasses around the Territory starting to grow, which means that we’ve got a lot more fuel out there for this coming fire season,” she said.

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