‘If afternoon storms don’t bubble up over the region this week, overnight temperatures will stay revoltingly muggy’: BOM predicts ‘unrelenting’ heatwave

THE Bureau of Meteorology is warning fans will be ‘mandatory for a good night’s sleep’ amid an ‘unrelenting’ heatwave blanketing parts of the Top End

THE Bureau of Meteorology is warning fans will be “mandatory for a good night’s sleep” amid an “unrelenting” heatwave blanketing parts of the Top End this week.

A weather bureau spokeswoman said swathes of northern NT would be “smothered by a low intensity heatwave”, including pockets of severe and extreme conditions.

“It’s not the high 30s and low 40s daytime temperatures people have to worry about this week, it’s the unrelenting warm conditions overnight,” she said.

“Most places are looking at lows in the mid to high 20s, making fans mandatory for a good night’s sleep.

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“Communities near or south of Mataranka, Bulman and Dorisvale might be running the air conditioner more than usual.”

But the BOM spokeswoman said forecasters were keeping an eye on Darwin on Tuesday afternoon due to the potential for slow moving thunderstorms which could dump rain over the surrounding suburbs.

“If afternoon storms don’t bubble up over the region this week, overnight temperatures will stay revoltingly muggy,” she said.

“Build up like conditions are being felt across the region — the recent torrential rain is combining with the heatwave conditions to turn the Top End into a sauna.”

In Central Australia highs in the low 40s are tipped to continue with more scorching daytime temperatures predicted in the coming days.

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“As expected with temperatures like these, the weather is going to be sunny with clear skies,” the spokeswoman said.

“Areas south of Elliott may feel some relief with fresh and gusty south-easterly to north-easterly winds due later in the week.”

Meanwhile, the Daly River is still flooded with water levels tipped to reach 13.9m, just below the major flood level, on Tuesday afternoon.