Darwin and the Top End have this week been hit by torrentail rain and flooding. Oz Cyclone Chasers recently posted these stats from the Bureau of Meterology to show just how extraordinary the rain has been. Apparently this has been the wettest January for the Top End since 1904 and also the latest Monsoon onset since 1957.
* The Top End (N of 15S) recorded the wettest January since 1904 and NT-wide, rainfall was 59% above average
* Most rain fell in the second half of the month as a monsoon trough became established over Northern Australia – the monsoon onset was on 21 January, which is the latest onset since 1957
* Many sites in the northern half of the NT had their highest January rainfall on record, and some sites had their highest daily rainfall for January
* Sites with highest January rainfall include: Centre island, Darwin River Dam, McMinns Lagoon, Wave Hill, Jabiru, Humpty Doo, Stokes Hill, Batchelor and Yulara
* The wettest location was Kangaroo Flats (about halfway between Darwin and Batchelor) with 1185.0mm for the month
* The wettest day was at Humpty Doo with 286.4mm on 28 January
* 252.5mm of rain on 29 January at Daly River Police Station was the highest January daily rainfall in 8 years of records for that location – it came on top of 124mm the previous day, which is around 50mm under the Christmas Day and Boxing Day totals during the 2015 major flooding event
* Darwin recorded 857 mm which is its highest Jan rainfall since 1995 (940.4mm) and fourth highest Jan rainfall on record (since 1941)
