Darwin records highest October daily rainfall since 1941 – Northern Territory, Australia

Northern Territory's capital Darwin was hit by up to 177 mm (7 inches) of rainfall on Thursday, October 8, 2020– the city's highest daily rainfall for October since record-keeping began in 1941, the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) confirmed. The agency added that the rain came from multiple lines of storms consistent with La Niña conditions.

"The heavens opened in Darwin," said BOM senior meteorologist Sally Cutter. "It's been a dramatic contrast to the past two wet seasons, which were much drier."

Northern Territory had a flying start to the west season as rainfall in Darwin was 17 times greater than what fell during the same time in 2019.

Marrara in north Darwin recorded 177 mm (7 inches) of rain on Thursday morning, Royal Darwin Hospital saw 137 mm (5 inches), while Darwin airport received 113 mm (4 inches).

The previous record for the highest October daily rainfall was 95.5 mm (3.7 inches) set in 1969. Before modern data-keeping started in 1941, the Darwin Post Office registered 117 mm (5 inches) of rain in 1880.

According to BOM, the rain came from multiple lines of storms consistent with La Niña conditions, which usually increases early wet season rains in the Top End.

During the wet season, the average total rain for Darwin City is 1 676.1 mm (66 inches). The highest wet season rainfall recorded was 2 918.4 mm (115 inches) during the last significant La Niña event in 2010/11. This was about 1.7 times higher than usual.

Featured image credit: Lucy Chian/Unsplash