Bureau of Meteorology predicts NQ to get soaked by the monsoon in coming days

Townsville’s days of dry weather are numbered, with monsoon trough expected to sweep into town and fill up rain gauges. Find out when to pack your umbrella.

Melissa McAky is ready for rain on the Strand. Picture: Evan Morgan

North Queensland’s run of dry weather has almost reached its use by date, with a monsoon trough expected to sweep into town and fill up the region’s rain gauges over the coming days.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s Danny Johnson expected “dryish” conditions in the short term, with average temperatures, light winds, and the chance of a late morning shower or thunderstorm on Wednesday.

He said NQ’s weather would take a dramatic turn on Thursday.

“We’ll see a big sort of wet season day in Townsville, where we could see potentially up to 60mm of rain, with an overnight minimum of 25C and maximum of 29C.” Mr Johnson said.

The rain was associated with a tropical low pressure system brewing in the Gulf of Carpentaria, which had a 10 per cent chance of forming into a cyclone over the coming days, but wasn’t expected to threaten our region.

“The trough is slowly drifting down so with that we’ll see some rainfall on Thursday and Friday,” he said.

“On Friday there would be up to 35mm with some south easterly winds around 20 to 30km.

“That will slowly start to clear off on Saturday and we’ll have some potential showers around, anywhere from 5 to 8mm, and then 3mm on Sunday.”

Given that we were still in cyclone season, and the BOM had forecast a warmer and wetter than average Summer, Mr Johnson said they would continue to closely monitor any lows that developed over the coming weeks.

Townsville forecast

• Wednesday – Min 26C. Max 31C. Partly cloudy. Medium chance (40 per cent) of showers (0 to 1mm), most likely from the late morning. The chance of a thunderstorm from the late morning. Light winds becoming northeast to south-easterly 15 to 25 km/h in the middle of the day then becoming light in the late evening.

• Thursday – Min 25C. Max 29C. Cloudy. High chance (80 per cent) of rain (1 to 60mm). Winds easterly 20 to 30 km/h.

• Friday – Min 25C. Max 30C. Cloudy. High chance (80 per cent) of showers (0 to 35mm). The chance of a thunderstorm. Winds east to south-easterly 20 to 30 km/h.

Originally published as Bureau of Meteorology predicts NQ to get soaked by the monsoon in coming days