Weather News

Early northern rainfall

Ben Domensino, Tuesday September 27, 2016 - 16:12 AEST

Australia's tropics are acting like it's already the wet season, even though September is technically the final month of the dry.

A relentless negative Indian Ocean Dipole and warm sea surface temperatures north of Australia have helped produce earlier-than-usual rainfall in the lead up to the wet season this year.

Some locations in the Northern Territory's Top End have received more than four times the September average rainfall this month, including Black Point and Warruwi. Jabiru is having their wettest September on record with 235mm already in the gauge as of 9am today.

The Indian Ocean's influence on Australia's weather at the moment is also being felt on Christmas Island. The airport's rain gauge has collected 600mm of rain so far this month, making it the wettest September in at least 44 years and close to double the old record.

The negative Indian Ocean Dipole is expected to continue enhancing rainfall across parts of Australia during the rest of spring, although its influence should gradually decline during the next two months.

- Weatherzone

© Weatherzone 2016

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