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Warm oceans fuelling late end to big wet season

Brett Dutschke, Tuesday April 25, 2017 - 14:26 AEST

Warmer-than-normal oceans have contributed to a late end to a big wet season across the southern hemisphere.

Much of the surface of the Indian, Atlantic and Pacific oceans have been running one-to-three degrees above average, leading to extra moisture and instability.

Some tropical areas in Australia, southern Africa and South America have experienced not only a wetter-than-normal wet season but a late end to the season.

For parts of Peru, Ecuador and Colombia, the season has been devastating, leaving hundreds dead and millions homeless. By March the season had already been wetter than normal, then massive rains led to the wettest month in six years and rivers lost their ability to cope. Rainfall as much as 125 millimetres per hour at times amounted to several thousand millimetres for the month. Even though Lima picked up little rain itself, the effects of torrents of water flowing down the mountains to the coastal plains caused significant damage to the capital's infrastructure.

Even though the wet season has since quietened down and the detrimental effects have lessened there is still plenty of rain falling in the mountains and jungles. During the coming week some areas should receive another 500-to-1000mm of rain.

In Australia, flooding has been most serious due to the impacts of tropical lows and cyclones, particularly in the Northern Territory and Western Australia, but also on Queenslandâ??s central coasts and ranges. Some of the tropics have seen more than 150 percent of their seasonal average rainfall.

Parts of the Northern Territory Top End are likely to end up with their second wettest wet season on record, second only to 2010/11 when some places amassed more than 3000mm. Darwin should end up with about 2500mm for the season with help from a nearby developing tropical low during the next few days.

Of course, close to areas of too much rain are places with near-ideal rainfall. Much of Zimbabwe has had a bumper harvest as a result of a good rain.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2017

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