Top End Wet Season 2023 - 2024

A hot night in and and Darwin.....

Big storm system to the south west this morning

Tough conditions around noon... +26c dp's and our first 35c max temp since early January

Not that common for sure.... yesterday's max of 35.0c was only the 8th time in the month of February since records began in 1941.
2024 - 1
2022 - 1
2016 - 1
1989 - 1
1975 - 1
1972 - 1  ( record 36.0c )
1964 - 1
1945 - 1

An obscure record today.... the hottest leap year ( as in 29th Feb ) day since records began at the Airport. 34.0c max temp today !
Here they are:
2024 - 34.0c
2020 - 33.5c
2016 - 33.5c
2012 - 31.8c
2008 - 31.0c
2004 - 33.0c
2000 - 29.3c
1996 - 30.5c
1992 - 32.0c
1988 - 33.0c
1984 - 31.4c
1980 - 31.6c
1976 - 30.3c
1972 - 30.0c
1968 - 30.7c
1964 - 32.7c
1960 - 32.8c
1956 - 30.0c
1952 - 32.5c
1948 - 30.6c
1944 - ( missing data )
So 20 Feb 29th's - mean average max temps - 32.0c.
Long term Feb mean max temps - 31.5c

Sunset last night in Darwin

Conditions at 1.00pm

Rain squall over the Darwin coastal suburb of Nightcliff yesterday afternoon( pics by Tristan McCulloch ).

Torrential rain overnight and this morning in and around Darwin ....some reports of up to 120mm in 2 hours and some flash flooding.
The pic is from the inner rural suburb of Knuckey's Lagoon before noon.
"Driving through that downpour at Knuckey's this morning.... torrential past the Cop Shop and the Shoal Bay Dump turn off, low visibility driving.....
Then about the Leanyer Water Park is just stopped like the tap was turned off and into Savannah Dr and Leanyer Heights the sun was shining and the roads were dry.
Anyways I had bought 50 kgs of Dynamic Lifter so got busy spreading it around the garden in anticipation of a good drop.....
Shoulda known better.... grand total of 0.8mm !"


A few klms away at the Airport:


And look at these fairy tale 'feels like' temps at Gunn Point....

Thoughts of Chairman Jamie Pilkington
( Generalissimo of PCOW FB Page, Darwin )
Good morning troops.
Seemed I woke up in a different dimension this morning, with rather foggy conditions greeting me as I walked outside.
It’s been awhile since I have seen fog at this time of year in Palmerston.
The atmosphere is fairly saturated tho so it’s not surprising, add the fact a lot of rain fell yesterday and no breeze to speak of created perfect conditions for fog.

47mm here in Gray but falls exceeded 100mm on the eastern side of the escarpment in Bakewell and Zuccoli. Holtze was slaughtered with 138mm 😳😳
It wasn’t just the Darwin area either with 62mm at Jabiru and falls in excess of 3 inches thru parts of the Central Top End.
The heavy rain did miss Darwin itself tho as the mass of showers and storms died as it reached the coast.
Current radar is hinting at something similar.
We still have a weak trough about the western Top End and even a weak low near Kununurra in WA, which is directing a rather unstable airmass across much of the Top End.
Most of todays activity is likely to be closest to this low, but plenty of showers and storms will develop during the day across much of the NT, particularly across the Top End.
It’s unlikely to be as unsettled about the Darwin region today as it was yesterday, but localised slow moving storms can quickly dispel that theory.
It’s expected that a trough will realign across the northern Top End in the next few days and this will see a gradual increase in showers, storms and rain areas.
The monsoon is expected to then come pay us a visit later next week.
That’s when the fun starts 🤔😝
There is currently a flood watch out for much of the south western Top End and minor flood warnings are in place for the Katherine, Roper and Waterhouse River.
Have an awesome day people, will chat to you soon 🙂
Sky from East Point, Darwin:

A nice 27mm fall from a wet season rainband ( from the East ).
( pics by Caroline )