Northern Territory weather: Monsoon to hit Top End this week, with tropical low on side

The Bureau of Meteorology has delivered a hint of good news for sweltering Top End residents desperately hanging out for the monsoon to begin – but it comes with a catch.

The Bureau of Meteorology has delivered a hint of good news for sweltering Top End residents desperately hanging out for the monsoon to begin – but it comes with a catch.

The Bureau’s latest climate update issued at 3pm Darwin time on Tuesday advised favourable conditions were “building” for the onset of the monsoon in Darwin.

All going well, the Bureau forecasts monsoonal weather is likely to kick in by the end of the week.

This will be an enormous relief for Top End residents who have endured two long-lasting heatwaves so far this Wet Season with temperatures topping 35C on multiple occasions.

A file picture of Fannie Bay’s Tom Curran rejoicing at the Monsoon hitting Darwin Picture: Glenn Campbell

But the sting in the tail is the arrival of the monsoon trough may also result in the formation of a tropical low in the Timor Sea west of Darwin as early as Wednesday. It could also lead to the formation of another tropical low in The Gulf of Carpentaria at the weekend.

“As at January 9, the monsoon is yet to arrive across Northern Australia,” the Bureau said, very much stating the obvious.

It said “typically” the monsoon arrives on or about December 28-29 in Darwin, with the latest known arrival date January 25, 1973.

The bureau said the lack of monsoonal weather is resulting in build-up conditions persisting across tropical Northern Australia.

At Darwin Airport, this is the first January since records began in 1941 that it had recorded more than two 35C+ days in the month.

So far this year there have been five days that have topped 35C.