Thursday, 1 May 2014 - Monthly Climate Summary for Northern Territory - Product code IDCKGC12R0

Northern Territory in April 2014: Rainfall in the Alice

A couldband event early in the month pulled moist, tropical air over the western half of the Territory causing the wettest April in 14 years and a few new rainfall records across the Tanami Desert and western Alice Springs district. Temperatures were higher than usual for most of the month across most of the Northern Territory, and a few temperature records were set.

• New rainfall records for western Alice Springs district
• Tindal RAAF sees warmest April on record
• Darwin Airport has above average rainfall and temperatures

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Rainfall for western Alice and eastern Arnhem

There were two noteworthy rainfall events in the Northern Territory this month. The first occurred from the 7th to 10th when a northwest cloudband event pulled moist tropical air across the southwest edge of the Territory. Some notable rainfall totals and records from that event include: Yulara Airport with 65 mm measured on the 8th (previous record was 47.0 mm on 21 April 1998), Walungurru Airport with 64 mm, also on the 8th (previous record was 7 mm on 6 April 2012). Generally across the western Alice Springs District and southern Victoria River District, this April was the wettest in 14 years.

Another noteworthy rainfall event occurred over the Gulf of Carpentaria and eastern Arnhem land from the 23rd to the 25th when a small tropical trough developed over the region. In the 24 hours up to 9am on the 24th, 115.2 mm fell at North East Island and Yirrkala Tropical Gardens measured 115.0 mm for the same period. Because of this heavy rainfall event along the Top End's east coast, the wettest locations in the NT for the month were Yirrkala Tropical Gardens with 373.0 mm, followed by Nhulunbuy with 339.0 mm and then North East Island with 314.6 mm.

Overall, April was wetter than normal for the NT. The average rainfall total for the Territory this month was 41.2 mm, 48% higher than normal for April.

Warmer than normal days

Most of the rainfall over the western Top End was confined to coastal locations, while sites further inland missed most of the cloud cover and rainfall. Hence some of the hottest temperatures in the Territory this month occurred at inland locations near the base of the Top End. The hottest days were at Bradshaw with 40.5 °C on the 1st, followed by 40.2 °C on the 2nd. Tindal RAAF had its highest April mean daily maximum temperature on record with 35.8 °C, their previous April record was 35.4 °C in 2009. Most of the Territory saw above-average mean daily maximum temperature for the month, with the exception of the southwest corner of the Territory which experienced cooler conditions early in the month associated with the cloudband and rainfall event. The mean daily maximum temperature for the NT this month was 32.8 °C, 1.0 °C above normal for April.

Warm nights for the NT

Minimum temperatures were very warm in the NT this month. Walungurru Airport, near the NT/WA border in the Alice Springs district was the only location to measure a mean daily minimum temperature that was below average this month; all other sites were above average. The mean minimum temperature for the NT for April was 20.6 °C, 1.5 °C above the long-term April average. Across the Top End, Darwin Airport and Jabiru Airport both had a mean daily minimum temperature of 24.8 °C, the warmest April minimum since 1998 (16 years). Centre Island’s mean minimum temperature of 26.3 °C equalled the record set in 1998.

Darwin region

Thunderstorm activity overnight on the 27th (measured on the morning of the 28th) was the wettest day for most of the Darwin city and rural area. Howard Springs Nature Park had a 24 hour total (to 9am on the 28th) of 94 mm, Gunn Point had 87 mm, Elizabeth Valley had 65 mm and Darwin Airport measured 36 mm. Northern suburbs received slightly less rainfall than the rest of the region on that day; Leanyer had only 12.2 mm as did Darwin Hospital. Palmerston (Yarrawonga) received 66.4 mm from the event which was enough to increase the monthly total rainfall 261.8 mm, exceeded their previous April total rainfall record of 199.5 mm set in 1996.

By the end of the month Darwin Airport had accumulated a total of 183.4 mm over 16 raindays (the April mean is 102.3 mm). The mean daily maximum temperature at the Airport was 32.9 °C, 0.2 °C above the April average, and the mean daily minimum was 24.8 °C, 0.8 °C above normal for April and the warmest in 16 years.

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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Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top