Thursday, 9 January 2020 - Annual Climate Summary for Northern Territory - Product code IDCKGC52R0

Northern Territory in 2019: a very warm and dry year

The Northern Territory had one of its warmest and driest years on record in 2019. Averaged across the Territory, and throughout the year, the daytime temperature was the highest on record, the overnight temperature was the seventh-highest, the mean temperature was second-highest, and rainfall was second-lowest on record. Nearly every individual month of the year had an above average mean temperature and below average rainfall. Monsoon rainfall did not arrive util late January in the 2018-19 wet season and produced below average totals across the Northern Territory.

Second-driest year on record

• The Northern Territory's rainfall in 2019 was 50% below average and the second-lowest on record, behind only 1961; monthly rainfall was below average for all months except for May which was the only month with above average rainfall
• Most of the NT had annual rainfall in the lowest 10% of records, while large parts of the central and southern NT had their lowest rainfall ever recorded
• The monsoon onset date at Darwin for the 2018-19 wet season was 23 January 2019 (equal third-latest on record) which saw a dry start to the year; subsequent monsoon bursts were relatively weak over the NT and failed to generate widespread rainfall between February and April
• Monsoon onset was also late for the 2019-20 wet season was also late and failed to arrive before the end of 2019, further exacerbating the annual rainfall deficiencies
• Many sites across the NT had their lowest annual total rainfall on record or lowest for at least 20 years
• Despite the generally dry conditions, Cooinda Airstrip had its highest daily rainfall on record from an isolated thunderstorm in February, and Marqua, in the southern NT near the Queensland border, had a heavy rain event in March associated with ex-tropical cyclone Trevor

Record warm days

• Overall, the Northern Territory's mean temperature was 1.49 °C above average and the second-highest on record, behind 2013; the only month to have a below average mean temperature was August
• The mean daily maximum temperature in 2019 was the highest on record, at 1.96 °C above average
• The monthly mean maximum temperature was record warm during January and March, at more than three degrees above average, while in December it was more than four degrees above average and the highest mean maximum temperature ever recorded in the NT; four other months also ranked in the warmest ten
• January had a mean maximum of 3.70 °C above the long-term average, nearly a full degree higher than the previous record in 2013. Many sites in the southern NT had record-breaking daily maximum (and minimum) temperatures and consecutive runs of high temperatures during January
• For the NT, December became the first month with the monthly mean maximum temperature more than 4.0 °C above the long-term average, since records commenced in 1910
• The highest temperature recorded in the Territory in 2019 was 47.9 °C, at Rabbit Flat on 25 December. This was the third-highest temperature ever recorded in the NT
• Tindal RAAF base, near Katherine, had 54 days of 40 °C or above in 2019, easily exceeding the previous record of 20 set in 2013. Tindal had never observed more than 10 consecutive days of 40 °C before 2019, but had a consecutive run of 16 such days in November and 15 in December. Tindal also exceeded its previous highest temperature of 42.5 °C, recorded in 2006, a total of six times in 2019, peaking with a maximum temperature of 43.1 °C on 6 December
• Mean minimum temperatures throughout 2019 were somewhat milder than the maximums but still significantly above average: overall, the annual mean minimum was 1.02 °C above average, the seventh-highest recorded, with five months in the warmest ten on record and January the highest ever recorded mean minimum for that month
• Many sites broke heat records in 2019, including for highest temperature on record, highest mean daily maximum temperature on record, warmest night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record and highest mean temperature on record
• Tennant Creek Airport scored an undesirable quadrella in 2019 by recording its lowest rainfall, along with highest on record mean, mean maximum and mean minimum temperature

Darwin Airport

• Total rainfall for Darwin Airport was 1076.4 mm, which is 62% of the long-term average of 1722.9 mm; this was the second-lowest since records commenced in 1941 and lowest annual rainfall since 1946
• The mean daily maximum temperature for Darwin Airport was 33.0 °C, which is 0.9 °C above the long-term average of 32.1 °C. The warmest day was 38.2 °C on 21 October (Darwin Airport's second warmest day on record), and the coolest day was on 4 June when the temperature reached 26.2 °C. Darwin Airport had a record number of days of 35 °C or above in 2019, with 45 (exceeding 2013's 29 such days), including a record run of 11 days in a row in December
• The mean daily minimum temperature for Darwin Airport was 23.2 °C, equal to the long-term average. The coldest morning was 12.7 °C on 25 June, and the warmest morning was on 27 Dec when the minimum temperature was 30.2 °C (the highest daily minimum ever recorded at Darwin Airport)

Alice Springs Airport

• Total rainfall for Alice Springs Airport was 67.6 mm, which is 24% of the long-term average of 278.3 mm and the lowest annual total on record
• The mean daily maximum temperature for Alice Springs Airport was 31.1 °C, which is 2.3 °C above the long-term average of 28.8 °C, and highest on record. The warmest day was 45.7 °C on 25 December (highest on record), and the coolest day was on the 24 September when the temperature reached 13.6 °C
• The mean daily minimum temperature for Alice Springs Airport was 13.6 °C, which is 0.4 °C above the long-term average of 13.2 °C. The coldest morning was -3.2 °C on 22 June (the coldest temperature observed in the NT in 2019), and the warmest morning was on the 17 January when the minimum temperature was 30.4 °C

Tropical cyclones

• Two tropical cyclones affected the Northern Territory in 2019: TC Trevor, which made landfall near Port McArthur on 23 March, as a category 4 storm, and TC Wallace which reached cyclone strength on 6 April, shortly before moving out of the NT region and into Western Australia's area of responsibility

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Extremes in 2019
Hottest day	47.9 °C at Rabbit Flat on 25 Dec
Warmest days on average	36.8 °C at Bradshaw
Coolest days on average	29.8 °C at McCluer Island
Coldest day	13.0 °C at Territory Grape Farm on 24 Sep
Coldest night	-3.2 °C at Alice Springs Airport on 22 Jun
Coolest nights on average	13.6 °C at Alice Springs Airport
Warmest nights on average	25.5 °C at McCluer Island
Warmest night	36.0 °C at Walungurru Airport on 26 Dec
Warmest on average overall	29.6 °C at Bradshaw
Coolest on average overall	22.3 °C at Alice Springs Airport
Wettest overall	1424.2 mm at Dum In Mirrie Airstrip
Wettest day	172.0 mm at Marqua on 25 Mar
Strongest wind gust	139 km/h at Centre Island on 23 Mar

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Maps
	Observed	Anomaly	Decile rank
Total rainfall
Mean daily maximum temperatures
Mean daily minimum temperatures

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

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Monthly maps
	Rainfall rank	Maximum temperature rank	Minimum temperature rank
January
February
March
April
May
June
July
August
September
October
November
December

Click on a map to show it full size in a pop-up window

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Record highest daily rainfall
	New record (mm)		Old record		Years of record
Cooinda Airstrip	158.0	on 11 Feb	152.6	on 10 Jan 2001	29
Marqua	172.0	on 25 Mar	165.0	on 1 Mar 2010	20

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Record lowest annual total rainfall
	New record (mm)	Old record		Years of record	Annual average
Victoria River Downs	166.6	241.8	in 1928	125	647.7
Hermannsburg	21.4	56.9	in 1915	101	232.0
Alice Springs Airport	67.6	76.8	in 2009	79	278.3
Tennant Creek Airport	63.6	170.0	in 1970	50	464.9
Elliott	97.6	215.8	in 1986	48	586.2
Newhaven	42.2	66.1	in 1963	48	325.0
Darwin Botanic Gardens	957.2	1023.0	in 1979	47	1780.2
Mount Skinner	58.8	81.3	in 1963	47	326.3
Brunchilly	112.0	145.4	in 2013	45	455.2
Darwin River Dam	937.3	975.2	in 1979	44	1608.1
Camfield	130.3	288.2	in 1992	41	608.0
Howard Springs Nature Park	1056.0	1335.0	in 2002	37	1861.8
Ormiston Gorge	62.0	73.7	in 1994	37	325.3
Humpty Doo Collard Road	1152.7	1380.6	in 1985	32	1843.9
Montejinni	279.5	288.0	in 1974	32	643.3
Maryvale	38.9	45.3	in 1961	31	192.3
Ross River	53.2	93.6	in 2009	31	379.1
Numery	26.7	83.6	in 2013	29	213.2
Territory Grape Farm	54.0	97.4	in 1994	28	306.5
Yulara Airport	27.0	93.2	in 2015	28	273.8
Mulga Park	37.2	104.4	in 1994	27	262.4
Watarrka	30.6	78.2	in 1996	27	303.6
Leanyer	1043.4	1184.6	in 1992	25	1761.9
The Granites	116.0	152.5	in 1992	24	382.7
Gilnockie	218.8	353.3	in 1992	23	819.0
Moolooloo	365.3	456.0	in 1992	23	754.3
Rabbit Flat	151.2	219.8	in 2008	23	459.5

Lowest annual total rainfall for at least 20 years
	Observed (mm)	Most recent lower		Annual average
Brunette Downs	112.3	89.4	in 1902*	419.3
Darwin Airport	1076.4	1024.7	in 1946	1722.9
Larrimah	357.9	328.5	in 1961*	851.4
Nutwood Downs	304.2	253.8	in 1961*	735.5
Legune	628.8	616.6	in 1961*	1091.9
Lajamanu Airport	116.2	87.2	in 1961*	501.3
Daly Waters Airstrip	277.0	225.9	in 1952*	672.6
Tanumbirini	230.0	81.2	in 1975*	722.8
Katherine Council	659.4	556.7	in 1970*	967.8
Rosewood	474.6	359.4	in 1985*	651.0
Old Delamere	330.0	255.5	in 1934*	721.5
Waterloo	332.1	147.0	in 1985*	668.0
Timber Creek	559.2	516.8	in 1992*	959.0
McMinns Lagoon	1317.6	1229.6	in 1992*	1880.4
Tindal RAAF	602.2	515.4	in 1996	1074.1
Keep River Rangers	494.9	418.8	in 1985*	861.3
Centre Island	522.4	482.8	in 1997*	1029.7
Batchelor Airport	946.8	816.4	in 1996*	1535.0
Bradshaw Homestead	579.8	532.4	in 1992*	916.7

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a lower value has gone unreported

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Record highest temperature
	New record (°C)		Old record		Years of record	Annual average
Alice Springs Airport	45.7	on 25 Dec	45.6	on 29 Dec 2018	79	28.8
Jervois	47.2	on 25 Dec	= 47.2	on 22 Dec 1990	53	31.0
Daly Waters Airstrip	45.6	on 27 Dec	44.5	on 15 Nov 2006	52	34.0
Kulgera	47.0	on 29 Dec	45.5	on 29 Dec 2018	40	28.5
Yulara Airport	47.1	on 24 Dec	46.4	on 11 Jan 2013	35	30.1
Douglas River Research Farm	44.1	on 20 Oct	42.6	on 20 Oct 2002	34	34.4
Tindal RAAF	43.1	on 6 Dec	42.5	on 10 Nov 2006	33	34.0
Lajamanu Airport	46.2	on 3 Jan	= 46.2	on 12 Dec 2018	30	33.8
Watarrka	46.0	on 24 Dec	= 46.0	on 30 Dec 2018	30	30.6
Borroloola Airport	44.7	on 26 Dec	44.6	on 5 Dec 2018	27	33.9
Batchelor Airport	41.9	on 20 Oct	41.8	on 16 Oct 2002	26	33.8
Rabbit Flat	47.9	on 25 Dec	47.1	on 19 Dec 2018	24	33.8
Delamere Weapons Range	43.6	on 6 Dec	43.0	on 1 Dec 2006	23	33.9
Point Fawcett	36.5	on 20 Dec	36.3	on 8 Nov 2015	23	31.8
Arltunga	44.5	on 25 Dec	43.9	on 6 Jan 2004	20	28.7

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Record highest annual mean daily maximum temperature
	New record (°C)	Old record		Years of record	Annual average
Alice Springs Airport	31.1	30.9	in 2013	77	28.8
Tennant Creek Airport	33.9	33.7	in 2013	49	32.0
Victoria River Downs	36.4	36.1	in 2016	49	34.5
Daly Waters Airstrip	35.8	35.7	in 2013	46	34.0
Tindal RAAF	35.5	= 35.5	in 2016	30	34.0
Yulara Airport	32.4	31.5	in 2018	30	30.1
Douglas River Research Farm	35.5	= 35.5	in 2016	25	34.4
Rabbit Flat	36.0	35.3	in 2005	22	33.8
Territory Grape Farm	32.5	32.4	in 2013	21	30.9
Lajamanu Airport	36.3	35.6	in 2016	20	33.8

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Record highest daily minimum temperature
	New record (°C)		Old record		Years of record	Annual average
Darwin Airport	30.2	on 27 Dec	30.0	on 12 Dec 2018	79	23.2
Daly Waters Airstrip	31.3	on 27 Dec	30.6	on 26 Nov 1965	52	19.1
Yulara Airport	32.5	on 25 Dec	32.0	on 18 Feb 2007	35	14.1
Tindal RAAF	29.5	on 22 Nov	29.3	on 7 Nov 1988	33	20.5
Lajamanu Airport	33.2	on 30 Jan	31.8	on 22 Nov 2009	30	18.0
Black Point	30.4	on 27 Dec	30.2	on 9 Dec 2009	29	24.1
Territory Grape Farm	31.1	on 26 Dec	30.1	on 24 Jan 1988	29	14.6
Point Fawcett	30.1	on 27 Dec	30.0	on 12 Jan 2003	23	22.7
Dum In Mirrie Airstrip	30.4	on 27 Dec	30.2	on 21 Nov 2008	22	23.3
McCluer Island	30.3	on 27 Dec	30.0	on 7 Dec 2018	22	25.6

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Record highest annual mean daily minimum temperature
	New record (°C)	Old record		Years of record	Annual average
Tennant Creek Airport	21.1	= 21.1	in 1988	49	19.8

Highest annual mean daily minimum temperature for at least 20 years
	Observed (°C)	Most recent higher		Annual average
Elliott	20.6	20.7	in 1986*	19.1

* note: there are gaps in the historical record at this site, so it is possible a higher value has gone unreported

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Record highest annual mean temperature
	New record (°C)	Old record		Years of record	Annual average
Tennant Creek Airport	27.5	27.3	in 2013	49	25.9
Elliott	28.1	= 28.1	in 1986	35	26.8
Yulara Airport	23.5	23.1	in 2013	30	22.1
Lajamanu Airport	28.1	27.8	in 2016	20	25.9

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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Summary statistics for 2019
	Maximum temperatures (°C)				Minimum temperatures (°C)				Rainfall (millimetres)
	Mean for 2019	Diff from average	Highest for 2019		Mean for 2019	Diff from average	Lowest for 2019		Total for 2019	Average annual total	Rank of 2019	Fraction of annual average
Darwin-Daly (district 14GA)
Batchelor Airport	34.3	+0.5	41.9	20 Oct	21.0	-0.2	8.7	25 Jun	946.8	1535.0	v low	62%
Central Arnhem Plateau	32.7	+0.6	40.3	7 Dec	20.2	-0.4	8.1	26 Jun	722.8	1131.7	low	64%
Charles Point	31.2		35.3	24 Apr	23.9		15.2	25 Jun	1126.6
Croker Island Airport	31.6		36.1	21 Dec	23.9		16.4	24 Jun	1405.0
Darwin Airport	33.0	+0.9	38.2	21 Oct	23.2	0.0	12.7	25 Jun	1076.4	1722.9	v low	62%
Delamere Weapons Range	35.4	+1.5	43.6	6 Dec	21.4	+0.5	10.9	5 Jul	470.4	854.4	v low	55%
Douglas River Research Farm	35.5	+1.1	44.1	20 Oct	19.5	-0.4	4.7	25 Jun
Jabiru Airport	35.2	+0.8	42.3	19 Oct	22.6	-0.1	10.3	24 Jun	1140.8	1553.7	v low	73%
McCluer Island	29.8	-0.3	34.7	17 Dec	25.5	-0.1	20.3	6 Jun	975.6	1153.2	low	85%
Middle Point	35.0	+0.6	42.5	20 Oct	19.9	-0.7	4.8	25 Jun	927.8	1366.5	v low	68%
Mount Bundey North (Defence)	35.0		42.6	20 Oct	22.3		13.4	25 Jun	860.2
Mount Bundey South (Defence)	35.4		43.0	20 Oct	21.3		6.1	25 Jun	919.4
Murganella Airstrip	32.9		39.0	4 Dec	20.4		7.4	30 Aug	1154.6
Noonamah Airstrip	34.7		41.6	20 Oct	21.4		6.5	25 Jun	768.4
Pirlangimpi Airport	32.6	+0.2	37.8	20 Oct	22.5	+0.2	12.8	25 Jun	1355.6	1989.3	v low	68%
Point Fawcett	32.4	+0.6	36.5	20 Dec	22.1	-0.6	9.9	25 Jun	709.4	1572.9	v low	45%
Point Stuart	33.0		38.3	26 Dec	21.9		10.6	26 Jun	1343.8	1328.0	low	101%
Port Keats Airport	33.5	+0.4	41.0	10 Oct	22.0	+0.1	10.5	15 Aug	800.0	1289.0	low	62%
Tindal RAAF	35.5	+1.5	43.1	6 Dec	19.9	-0.6	4.0	26 Jun	602.2	1074.1	v low	56%
Arnhem (district 14BC)
Cape Wessel	32.1		37.0	14 Dec	25.1		21.2	13 Jul	1009.6	1251.5	average	81%
Gove Airport	31.2	+0.4	38.0	4 Dec	22.7	+0.2	13.5	30 Aug	1373.8	1444.5	average	95%
Groote Eylandt Airport	32.2	0.0	39.5	26 Dec	20.6	-0.3	7.7	30 Aug	1122.4	1290.3	average	87%
Milingimbi Airport	33.0	+0.8	39.5	4 Dec	22.7	-0.4	12.1	30 Aug	756.8	1129.9	low	67%
Roper-Mcarthur (district 14DE)
Centre Island	31.8	+0.5	39.5	15 Dec	24.0	+0.1	15.9	24 Jun	522.4	1029.7	v low	51%
Daly Waters Airstrip	35.8	+1.8	45.6	27 Dec	19.0	-0.1	5.3	30 Aug	277.0	672.6	v low	41%
McArthur River Mine Airport	35.9	+1.2	44.1	26 Dec	20.2	+0.4	6.1	14 Aug	469.8	760.5	low	62%
Ngukurr Airport	35.9		44.0	15 Dec	20.9		5.6	24 Jun	443.4
Victoria (district 14F)
Bradshaw	36.8	+1.4	44.1	6 Dec	22.5	+0.7	9.4	5 Jul	492.6	955.6	v low	52%
Lajamanu Airport	36.3	+2.5	46.2	3 Jan	19.9	+1.9	5.8	5 Jul	116.2	501.3	v low	23%
Victoria River Downs	36.4	+1.9	44.7	7 Dec	20.3	+0.8	5.2	24 Jun	166.6	647.7	lowest	26%
Barkly (district 15A)
Elliott	35.7	+1.2	45.4	11 Jan	20.6	+1.5	7.3	24 Jun	97.6	586.2	lowest	17%
Tennant Creek Airport	33.9	+1.9	45.0	11 Jan	21.1	+1.3	8.1	22 Jun	63.6	464.9	lowest	14%
Alice Springs (district 15B)
Alice Springs Airport	31.1	+2.3	45.7	25 Dec	13.6	+0.4	-3.2	22 Jun	67.6	278.3	lowest	24%
Jervois	32.0	+1.0	47.2	25 Dec	14.9	+0.2	0.4	20 Jul	204.2	286.9	average	71%
Rabbit Flat	36.0	+2.2	47.9	25 Dec	17.3	+0.7	1.1	2 Jun	151.2	459.5	lowest	33%
Territory Grape Farm	32.5	+1.6	45.9	25 Dec	14.9	+0.3	-1.9	22 Jun	54.0	306.5	lowest	18%
Walungurru Airport	34.5	+1.7	47.7	25 Dec	20.7	+1.4	6.9	7 Jun	30.4	279.5	v low	11%
Yulara Airport	32.4	+2.3	47.1	24 Dec	14.6	+0.5	-1.5	21 Jun	27.0	273.8	lowest	10%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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