Northern rainfall onset

The northern rainfall onset occurs when enough rainfall has fallen to stimulate plant growth after the tropical dry season. This is defined as the date when at least 50 mm of rainfall has accumulated after 1 September. Parts of coastal Queensland and the western Top End typically accumulate 50 mm by late October or early November, spreading further south and inland over following weeks. The southern inland regions of the Northern Territory and Queensland, as well as western parts of Western Australia usually have the latest northern rainfall onset; around mid-January. The long-term median is calculated by averaging the onset date for each year from 1981–2018.

Dark grey shading on the map represents areas where there are too few weather stations to support an analysis.

• The northern Australian rainfall onset is greatly affected by the phase of the El Niño-Southern Oscillation. During El Niño years, the onset date tends to be later than normal, while during La Niña years, the northern rainfall onset tends to be earlier than usual.
• The maps show the average northern rainfall onset date based on different phases of the El Niño–Southern Oscillation. The maps show years where the July–August average of the Southern Oscillation Index (SOI) has been below −8 (El Niño), above +8 (La Niña), or in between (neutral). The maps are calculated for all years between 1981 and 2018.

• The northern rainfall onset occurs when enough rain has fallen to stimulate plant growth after the northern dry season. This is defined as the date when rainfall accumulated after 1 September reaches at least 50 mm. The rainfall onset is especially significant for primary producers, including the agricultural and horticultural sectors.
• Parts of coastal Queensland and the western Top End regions typically have a northern rainfall onset date of October or early November, and this spreads further south and inland over coming weeks. The southern inland regions of the Northern Territory and Queensland, as well as western parts of Western Australia usually have the latest northern rainfall onset, around mid-January.
• The rainfall onset as defined here is different from the Australian monsoon onset, which is characterised by a reversal of the prevailing winds and widespread heavy rainfall. The north Australian monsoon usually arrives at Darwin in the last week of December.
• Dark grey shading on the maps represent areas where the weather station density is not sufficient to support an analysis. Light grey shading means that the usual rainfall onset date occurs later than the currently issued forecast period.

• The Bureau's northern rainfall onset outlook indicates the likelihood of the rainfall onset beginning earlier or later than the average onset date (see Normal onset). The outlooks are based on probabilities (i.e., the chance of the rains beginning earlier than normal), and are produced by the same Bureau climate model used for the climate outlooks.
• Outlooks are issued from June through to the end of August each year.
• The outlooks do not give an indication of rainfall amounts for the duration of the wet season, nor do they state categorically (i.e., 'yes' or 'no') that the northern rainfall onset will be early or late. They give a percentage chance of whether it will be early or late. Values of 60% and above indicate an increased chance of an early northern rainfall onset; values of 40% and below indicate an increased chance of a late northern rainfall onset. Values between 40% to 60% show no strong signs of the onset being earlier or later than usual. The outlooks are designed to be used as a tool in risk management and decision-making.

• Cowan, T., R. Stone, M.C. Wheeler, and M. Griffiths, 2020: Improving the seasonal prediction of Northern Australian rainfall onset to help with grazing management decisions. Climate Services, 19, 100182.
• Drosdowsky, W., and M.C. Wheeler, 2014: Predicting the onset of the north Australian wet season with the POAMA dynamical prediction system. Wea. Forecasting, 29, 150-161

• Three maps are provided and all relate to the northern rainfall onset: rainfall totals map, rainfall onset date map and an early or late map.
• Station data used are from the Bureau of Meteorology's rainfall network. As a result, not all areas across Australia are covered by a rainfall station.
• A weighted analysis scheme is applied to station data, providing a broad spatial gridded coverage throughout Australia. The daily grids area available through the AWAP dataset.
• Not all of the available data is available on the day of the rainfall being recorded – for some sites these are delivered many months later.
• The maps are updated each Tuesday afternoon, between 1 October and 31 May.
• From June until the start of the next northern rainfall onset season, the final end of season maps remain available for review.
• End of season maps are available in each archive page since the 2015–2016 season.

• Earlier archives: Archive of National rainfall maps for the northern wet season
• Further information: About monthly rainfall grids, About rainfall maps

• The rainfall is accumulated each day, starting from 1 September.
• The rainfall accumlates until the end of May of the following year.

See also: Recent and past rainfall maps

• The 'Onset date' map shows the dates where the 50 mm onset threshold has occurred.
• Areas with totals below the onset threshold of 50 mm are not shown.

• The 'Early or late?' map shows the number of days earlier or later than the mean (normal) onset date.

See also: Northern rainfall onset mean onset date

• 'Totals', 'Onset date' and 'Early or late' end-of-season maps are available from each archive page.
• Archive page dates are tied to rainfall onset outlook dates, so the latest year of archives displays the end-of-season maps from the previous season.