AS rain fell in over the summer, so too, did rainfall records in
many parts of the Northern Territory. The Victoria River Downs and
Daly Waters areas had more than three times their normal rainfalls
for February, with 579 mm and 525 mm respectively, breaking
long-standing records of 116 and 112 years.
But record rainfalls were not confined to just these areas.
Galiwin'ku (Elcho Island), other parts of Arnhem Land and the
Katherine region experienced record rains this wet season (October
to end of February). Tindall RAAF station recorded 1766 mm,
surpassing the previous record for this period by a staggering 828
mm!
Tropical Cyclone rain systems were the cause of these excessive
rainfall figures with ex-Tropical Cyclones Debbie in December,
Fritz in February and the recent ex-Tropical Cyclone Evan set to
put more pressure on the rainfall records for March.
In Western Australia, much of the north of the state received good
rain with pockets of record rainfall between Halls Creek and
Wyndham. In the east, several Queensland centres received their
wettest January since the floods of 1974, with Emerald at 211 mm,
Longreach 199 mm, and Mount Isa 392 mm. Mount Isa recorded its
highest ever 24-hour rainfall total of 213 mm in mid-January.
Wet conditions continued in March with a low-pressure system off
Cairns causing substantial falls in areas from the Cape to Ingham
on the east coast. In the NT over the same week Numbulwar had 222
mm, Pirlangimpi 212 mm and Ngayawili in the Darwin–Daly 172
mm.
