‘Like a cauldron’: See the weather patterns banding together to bring rain to Far North Qld

Monsoon activity and a seasonal weather oscillation have brought days of rain to the Far North, as flood warnings are put in place for the region.

Monsoon activity and a seasonal weather oscillation have brought days of rain to the Far North, as flood warnings are put in place for the region. Picture: Brendan Radke

Flood warnings have been put in place for the Far North as monsoon activity and a seasonal weather oscillation bring days of rain to the region.

While March has been the driest month in Cairns so far this year, only recording 209mm of rain, Bureau metrologist Livio Regano said consistent falls were to be expected until the end of the week.

“In a nutshell, there has not been that much rain this month, it only started on the weekend,” Mr Regano said.

Mount Sophia, 36km south of Cairns recorded the highest rainfall totals on Monday morning at 218mm.

Robin Watson, Ella Watson, 5, and her father Leal Watson walk along the Bruce Highway south of the Tully River at Euramo. Picture: Brendan Radke

“It’s nothing from a few weeks ago when we had that massive low, it’s just raining heavily now … but we’re expecting further widespread rainfall,” he said.”

“Wednesday will be quite wet as well, tapering off toward the end of the week, but not disappearing, it’ll likely be heavy downpours interspersed with lengthy breaks.”

Mr Regano said the rain was a result of warm sea water across northern Australia and the re-emergence of the Madden-Julian Oscillation.

“It’s not easy to explain, but essentially we’ve got really warm waters through North Australia at the moment,” he said.

“The Coral Sea is warmer than normal, the water is boiling like a cauldron, so it doesn’t take much to get instability through the atmosphere, it only takes a few subtle uplifting mechanisms to produce heavy rain.”

Monsoon activity and a seasonal weather oscillation have brought days of rain to the Far North, as flood warnings are put in place for the region. Picture: Brendan Radke

Mr Regano confirmed a large cloud build up off the Queensland coast, however it was not looking to develop into a cyclone at this stage.

“You can see the blob of cloud off the coast, which looks like a cyclone but its not,” he said.

“The Madden Julian Oscillation pulse that comes through every month or so typically has a four to six week period and we’re coming into a positive phase of it, which enhances the chances of tropical systems of producing higher rainfall.”

Flood alerts have been issued for some parts of the Far North.

“There’s a moderate warning for the Tully River and minor warnings for the Mulgrave, Russell and Johnstone river catchments,” he said.

“No strong winds have been issued for the Far North.”

Originally published as ‘Like a cauldron’: See the weather patterns banding together to bring rain to Far North Qld