Generous Monsoon breaks Tropical Records!

It was the monsoon that kept on giving, and now for MANY locations its delivered not only some of the best rain in years… but its actually broken LONG STANDING January records! Heres a breakdown of how the month transpired… Above image via BOM (Monthly rainfall colour map)

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The monsoon came through in 2 different waves, one earlier in the month that lasted around a week or so, the second towards the end of the month which lasted about the last 2 weeks. There was no real break in between the two which helped keep the rainfall build up going, and for those who missed out on one day… the dome eventually broke. Cyclone Joyce was an added bonus for the NW NT and Northern WA region, while a series of tropical lows helped boost the Northern QLD totals, and a deep tropical low brought phenomenal rainfall to WA.

 

 

Thats all well and good to have the above, but it always comes down to numbers with these kinds of accumulative setups, so what were the numbers really like (note, bolded locations and totals indicates a new January or All-Time Record)?

More than 1000mm fell in a few locations
• Kangaroo Flats (SE of Darwin) (NT) 1185mm
• West Roebuck (WA) 1073mm
• Mount Bundey South (NT) 1026mm

For these areas, Kangaroo Flats recorded an insane 4 straight days of 100mm+ (the only location to do so), as well as 6 days above 100mm for the month (again the only location). West Roebuck recorded the highest daily total in the country with 449mm and 673mm in just 5 days.

 

 

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The more populated areas were hit with falls of 800-1000mm which brought flash and some river/creek flooding.
• Bing Bong Port (NT) 967.6mm
• Milingimbi (NT) 933.8mm
• Broome (WA) 915.6mm
• Channel Point (NT) 908mm
• Centre Island (NT) 891.2mm
• Darwin (NT) 857.2mm
• Scherger RAAF (QLD) 819.6mm
• Ngayawili (NT) 817.6mm

Within these areas, Scherger RAAF recorded 351.8mm in the last 2 days of the month, Centre Island scored 534mm in 4 days. Broome cracked 673mm in 5 days which included their second highest daily total on record of 412mm and Darwin amassed 637mm in the last 10 days of the month. Bing Bong Port was also the only location to record 2 200mm days.

 

 

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Further significant rainfall was also recorded across remaining parts of the NT and across the Tropics of QLD with scattered falls of 500mm (not every 500mm total is included here because there are a heap of them).
• Weipa (QLD) 704.8mm
• Derby (WA) 683.2mm
• Hazelmere (QLD) 680.5mm
• Borroloola (NT) 666.2mm
• Cairns Airport (QLD) 664.6mm
• Bidyadanga (WA) 608.7mm
• Mornington Island (QLD) 595.4mm
• Cooktown (QLD) 579.6mm
• Cairns City (QLD) 552mm
• Coconut Island (QLD) 540.2mm
• Curtin (NT) 517.6mm
• South Johnstone (QLD) 510.2mm

In these areas, Hazelmere amassed 320mm in 1 day, Cooktown 241mm in 1 day, Weipa 371mm in the last 2 days of the month. Derby scored 2 200mm+ 4 day blocks, which helps show that it wasn’t a one hit wonder. While Cairns got 3 days of more than 100mm helping it become the wettest January since 2010.