Weather News

Monsoon trough brings the rain

Ben Domensino, Friday January 6, 2017 - 16:15 AEDT

The monsoon trough has been filling rain gauges in northern Australia this week.

Rain associate with the trough has been affecting parts of Western Australia, the Northern Territory and Queensland, enhanced in some areas by embedded low pressure systems.

One of these lows spent most of the week near Queensland's central coast, where it produced a month's worth of rain in three days at Mackay Airport. Of the 330mm received during the time, more than 230mm fell in just 24 hours, which was the heaviest daily rainfall in more than 20 years. Nearby, a rain gauges at Sarina recorded more than 400mm in 72 hours.

Townsville collected 34mm during the 24 hours to 9am today, which is their heaviest rain since June. Cairns received the heaviest rain since May, picking up more than 50mm in the last 24 hours.

The low will move away from the coast this weekend, taking the heavy rain with it. Lighter showers will continue along the east coast of Queensland this the weekend, thanks to onshore winds.

Further west, the second tropical low in three weeks also brought heavy rain to the Kimberley District in Western Australia.

Wyndham Airport has received 166mm during the last week, which is close to the entire January monthly average.

A severe weather warning for heavy rain, flood watches and flood warnings are in place across parts of the state's north today. The low will continue to draw rain into parts of the Kimberley, Pilbara and North Interior this weekend.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

Enter a postcode or town name for local weather, or text to search the site. » advanced search

Weather News

» all stories

BoM declares El Niño over

15:03 AEST The Bureau of Meteorology has officially declared El Niño over and the El Niño Southern Oscillation (ENSO) is now inactive for the first time since 2021, meaning there is no immediate sign of either an El Niño or a La Niña event.