Top End’s brief late wet season rain flurry to come to an end this week

THIS year’s late blink-and-you-miss-it wet season flurry is due to end this week after dumping up to 300mm of rain across the Top End

Darwin’s long-awaited and all too brief wet season late flurry is set to come to an end. Picture: Justin Kennedy

THIS year’s late blink-and-you-miss-it wet season flurry is due to come to an end this week after dumping up to 300mm of rain across the Top End.

The seemingly interminable build-up like conditions were only broken by Cyclone Trevor late last month but the rain is now due to wind down in the coming days.

Bureau of Meteorology spokeswoman Jude Scott said the tropical low that moved across the north coast at the weekend had brought what was likely to be the last widespread rainfall before the return of the Dry.

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Ms Scott said a total of between 200mm and 300mm of rain had fallen in parts of Arnhem Land while Darwin had copped between 100mm and 150mm.

“Overall, wet season rainfall remains below average for the Top End, with the shortfall versus wet season average of around 600mm for the parts of the Daly and Gregory districts, including the Darwin area,” she said.

“April is a transition month — although some Top End locations may continue to see showers and storms, cooler weather in the south of Australia will start to lead to the drier and slightly cooler temperatures that come with the dry season.”

Ms Scott said dry air was now expected to push into the Top End from Wednesday, with showers and thunderstorms confined to the northeast and Tiwi Islands by Thursday but there were still a few hot, sticky nights to come.

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“Afternoons in Darwin will begin to feel drier from later this week as we begin our transition into the dry season — which officially starts on May 1 — although the arrival of the afternoon sea breeze will mean continued warm and humid nights for a while yet,” Ms Scott said.

Meanwhile temperatures in Central Australia are forecast to cool to the low 30s or high 20s by midweek.