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

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

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

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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

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

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

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top