Thursday, 1 July 2021 - Monthly Climate Summary for Northern Territory - Product code IDCKGC12R0

Northern Territory in June 2021: wettest June since 2016 for the NT

June is officially the second month of the dry season in the Northern Territory, but it was wetter than usual through central and eastern parts, and spots along the north coast of the NT in June. The NT-wide rainfall was the wettest since 2016.
Mean maximum temperatures were above average across most of the Top End, while minimum temperatures were generally above average in the Top End and the Carpentaria District. Both mean maximum and mean minimum temperatures were below average in south-west parts of the NT.

Wettest June since 2016

  • Rainfall for June was the wettest since 2016 for the NT as a whole; Territory-wide, rainfall was 56% above the long-term average.
  • June is the second month of the northern Australia dry season, but was wetter than usual in central and eastern parts, and spots along the north coast of the NT.
  • At the start of the month, a surface trough produced showers over south-eastern parts of the NT.
  • Intense shower activity saw an isolated total of 51.4 mm at Black Point on the 9th, its wettest June day on record.
  • A cloudband with embedded thunderstorms and showers tracked across southern, and then eastern parts of the NT from the 22nd. The system brought widespread  falls to southern parts on the 23rd, eastern parts of the NT on the 24th, and then about the Carpentaria District on the 25th.
  • A few sites had their highest June daily rainfall on record some sites had their highest total June rainfall on record.

Warmer than usual temperatures overall

  • For the NT as a whole, the mean temperature was above the long-term average at 0.41 °C above average.
  • Daytime temperatures were above average across most of the Top End in the NT, and decile 10 (the top 10% of records) in parts of the north coast. Mean maximum temperatures were below average in south-western parts of the NT.
  • Overall, the mean maximum temperature was 0.36 °C above the long-term average.
  • Parts of the Top End, and the Barkly and Carpentaria districts reported warmer than usual mean minimum temperatures, while areas in the south-west had below average mean minimum temperatures.
  • For June in the NT, the mean minimum temperature was 0.45 °C above the long-term average. Jervois had its equal warmest June night (highest daily minimum temperature) on record on the 2nd.
  • For the year-to-date, the mean maximum temperature across the NT is 0.33 °C above the long-term average, and the mean minimum temperature is 0.01 °C below the long-term average. The mean temperature for the year-to-date across the NT is 0.18 °C above the long-term average.

Darwin Airport

  • Total rainfall for Darwin Airport was 5.2 mm, which is 289% of the long-term average of 1.8 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Darwin Airport was 31.8 °C, which is 1.1 °C above the long-term average of 30.7 °C.
  • The warmest day was 33.7 °C on the 18th, and the coolest day was on the 11th when the temperature reached 30.1 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Darwin Airport was 21.1 °C, which is 1.1 °C above the long-term average of 20.0 °C.
  • The coldest morning was 17.8 °C on the 20th, and the warmest morning was on the 24th when the minimum temperature was 24.8 °C.
  • Darwin had 10 days where the temperature dropped below 20 °C; the June average is 13.

Alice Springs

  • Total rainfall for Alice Springs was 9.2 mm, which compares to the long-term average of 12.8 mm.
  • The mean daily maximum temperature for Alice Springs was 19.5 °C, which is 0.4 °C below the long-term average of 19.9 °C.
  • The warmest day was 27.3 °C on the 1st, and the coolest day was on the 23rd when the temperature reached 13.7 °C.
  • The mean daily minimum temperature for Alice Springs was 4.4 °C, which is 0.5 °C below the long-term average of 4.9 °C.
  • The coldest morning was -2.2 °C on the 10th and the 28th, and the warmest morning was on the 14th when the minimum temperature was 13.1 °C.
  • Alice Springs had 3 days when the temperature fell to below freezing; the June average is 4.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Extremes in June 2021
Hottest day 35.8 °C at Bradshaw on the 3rd and the 16th
Warmest days on average 33.4 °C at Oenpelli Airport
Coolest days on average 19.5 °C at Alice Springs Airport
Coldest day 13.7 °C at Yulara Airport on the 22nd and at Alice Springs Airport on the 23rd
Coldest night -2.2 °C at Alice Springs Airport on the 10th and the 28th
Coolest nights on average 4.2 °C at Curtin Springs
Warmest nights on average 24.8 °C at Cape Wessel
Warmest night 26.4 °C at McCluer Island on the 3rd
Warmest on average overall 27.8 °C at Cape Wessel
Coolest on average overall 11.9 °C at Alice Springs Airport
Wettest overall 55.4 mm at Elliott
Wettest day 55.0 mm at Elliott on the 25th
Strongest wind gust 63 km/h at Cape Wessel and at Walungurru Airport, both on the 9th

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Maps

Observed Anomaly Decile rank
Total
rainfall		 Map of Rainfall totals Map of Percentage of normal rainfall Map of Rainfall deciles
Mean
daily
maximum
temperatures		 Map of Mean maximum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean maximum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean maximum temperature
Mean
daily
minimum
temperatures		 Map of Mean minimum temperature Map of Anomaly in mean minimum temperature Map of Decile rank of mean minimum temperature

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

Record highest June daily rainfall

New record
(mm)		 Old
record		 Years of
record
Black Point 51.4 on the 9th 40.6 on the 9th in 2000 55
Humpty Doo Collard Road 4.8 on the 25th 2.2 on the 6th in 2016 38
Batchelor Airport 3.0 on the 24th =3.0 on the 3rd in 2003 26
Moroak 4.8 on the 25th 1.0 on the 8th in 2000 23


Record highest June total rainfall

New record
(mm)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
June
Humpty Doo Collard Road 9.2 2.2 in 2016 38 0.5
Batchelor Airport 3.2 3.0 in 2003 26 0.5
Moroak 4.8 1.0 in 2000 23 0.3


Record highest June daily minimum temperature

New record
(°C)		 Old
record		 Years of
record		 Average for
June
Jervois 17.9 on the 2nd = 17.9 on the 22nd in 1996 54 6.6


Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Summary statistics for June 2021

Maximum temperatures
(°C)		 Minimum temperatures
(°C)		 Rainfall
(millimetres)
Mean for
June
2021		 Diff
from
average		 Highest for
June
2021		 Mean for
June
2021		 Diff
from
average		 Lowest for
June
2021		 Total for
June
2021		 Average
for
June		 Rank of
June
2021		 Fraction of
June
average
Darwin-Daly (district 14GA)
Batchelor Airport 32.6 +1.0 34.6 18th 18.5 +1.5 13.3 21st 3.2 0.5 highest 640%
Black Point 30.3 +0.2 32.0 16th 22.7 +0.9 20.9 11th 51.4 3.8 v high 1353%
Central Arnhem Plateau 29.9 +1.3 33.0 16th 17.9 +1.6 13.3 11th 0 0.1 v low 0%
Channel Point 30.2 +0.9 32.5 30th     15.5 11th 1.5 0.8 v high 188%
Charles Point 30.1   31.5 30th 21.7   19.0 21st 0.2


Croker Island Airport 30.5   32.5 16th 22.5   20.6 11th 5.6


Darwin Airport 31.8 +1.1 33.7 18th 21.1 +1.1 17.8 20th 5.2 1.8 v high 289%
Delamere Weapons Range 29.6 +0.2 34.1 15th 15.9 +0.5 10.1 13th 4.4 2.0 v high 220%
Douglas River Research Farm 32.3 +0.8 35.2 3rd 15.6 +1.9 7.8 21st 2.0 2.0 v high 100%
Dum In Mirrie Airstrip 31.5 +0.7 33.8 30th 19.9 +1.0 14.7 21st 0.6 2.1 average 29%
Jabiru Airport 32.9 +1.1 35.3 17th 21.3 +1.8 17.4 6th 0.8 1.0 high 80%
Kangaroo Flats (Defence) 33.1   35.0 14th 19.6   14.9 21st 0.4


McCluer Island 28.4 +0.4 30.1 16th 24.5 +0.9 22.6 20th 0.2 7.4 average 3%
Middle Point 32.7 +0.3 34.7 18th 17.2 +1.9 11.7 21st 2.8 0.7 high 400%
Mount Bundey North (Defence) 32.8   34.9 17th 20.0   15.8 21st 6.2


Mount Bundey South (Defence) 33.1   35.5 17th 18.4   12.3 21st 0


Murganella Airstrip 31.6   33.8 16th 19.2   14.6 6th 0


Noonamah Airstrip 33.3   35.0 18th 18.4   12.5 21st 2.2


Oenpelli Airport 33.4   35.1 30th 21.5   18.5 22nd 0


Pirlangimpi Airport 32.3 +1.0 33.9 18th 20.3 +1.3 15.5 21st 1.4 3.7 high 38%
Point Fawcett 31.0 +1.0 33.1 23rd 19.4 +0.6 14.4 21st 29.0 6.1 v high 475%
Point Stuart 32.0   33.9 30th 19.5   15.1 11th 0.2 1.6 average 13%
Port Keats Airport 31.7 +0.6 34.5 17th 18.4 +1.1 12.0 12th 0 3.9 lowest 0%
Tindal RAAF 31.0 +0.9 34.6 16th 15.6 +1.4 9.9 21st 0 0.6 lowest 0%
Arnhem (district 14BC)
Cape Wessel 30.7   31.8 15th 24.8   23.6 2nd 18.4 34.4 average 53%
Gove Airport 29.3 +0.9 31.4 16th 22.5 +1.1 20.2 3rd 17.4 30.7 average 57%
Groote Eylandt Airport 29.0 0.0 31.8 16th 17.7 +0.7 11.5 21st 3.2 4.6 average 70%
Maningrida Airport 31.2 +0.5 33.3 18th 20.1 +0.7 15.4 20th 5.8 3.1 high 187%
Milingimbi Airport 30.9 +0.1 32.8 17th 21.0 +0.9 17.1 20th 0.8 5.7 average 14%
Ngayawili 30.5 +0.8 33.0 16th 21.6 +1.1 19.5 19th 3.6 3.5 average 103%
Warruwi Airport 30.0 +0.7 31.8 16th 23.0 +1.0 20.3 20th 0 2.3 lowest 0%
Roper-Mcarthur (district 14DE)
Borroloola Airport 30.6 +0.2 34.7 17th 13.5 +0.6 6.0 11th 1.4 1.7 high 82%
Bulman 31.4 +0.9 35.0 16th 17.2 +2.0 10.6 21st 0.2 1.4 average 14%
Centre Island 27.1 +0.3 31.3 17th 19.8 +0.3 16.3 10th 1.4 6.3 average 22%
Daly Waters Airstrip 29.4 +0.5 33.6 15th 13.0 -0.1 4.8 12th 0 2.8 lowest 0%
McArthur River Mine Airport 30.2 +0.2 34.3 16th 14.4 +1.6 7.3 11th 3.2 1.6 high 200%
Ngukurr Airport 31.2   34.9 17th 15.9   8.5 20th 0.6


Victoria (district 14F)
Bradshaw 32.4 +0.8 35.8 16th 17.5 +1.8 10.5 12th 0 2.1 lowest 0%
Bradshaw - Angallari Valley (Defence) 31.4   35.3 3rd 18.2   10.7 11th 0


Bradshaw - Koolendong Valley (Defence) 32.0   35.1 15th 14.3   7.4 11th 0


Lajamanu Airport 26.9 0.0 32.8 14th 11.5 +1.5 3.9 11th 1.8 4.0 high 45%
Victoria River Downs 30.4 +1.0 34.6 15th 12.8 +0.8 6.0 11th 0 2.5 lowest 0%
Wave Hill 29.2 +1.0 34.0 14th 13.2 +1.6 3.5 11th 0.6 3.8 high 16%
Barkly (district 15A)
Elliott 28.3 -0.1 34.5 15th 13.3 +0.7 6.0 11th 55.4 5.4 v high 1026%
Tennant Creek Airport 25.4 +0.8 31.9 2nd 13.5 +0.6 7.3 11th 3.2 5.2 high 62%
Alice Springs (district 15B)
Alice Springs Airport 19.5 -0.4 27.3 1st 4.4 -0.5 -2.2 10th 9.2 12.8 average 72%
Curtin Springs 20.1 -0.1 27.1 1st 4.2 -0.8 -1.1 11th 11.4 13.6 average 84%
Jervois 21.7 -0.3 30.7 1st 6.8 +0.2 -0.2 11th 14.6 9.9 high 147%
Rabbit Flat 25.7 -0.2 31.7 1st 8.2 +0.4 0.6 11th 10.2 5.5 high 185%
Territory Grape Farm 22.0 -0.4 28.6 1st 4.9 -1.3 -1.8 11th 16.8 8.1 high 207%
Walungurru Airport 21.0 -2.4 28.7 1st 10.4 -0.8 4.6 24th 19.2 9.1 high 211%
Watarrka 20.0 -1.4 27.2 1st 4.5 -1.9 -1.5 11th 7.1 14.0 average 51%
Yulara Airport 19.7 -0.8 27.2 1st 5.2 -0.3 0.0 11th 10.6 16.9 average 63%

Extremes Maps Records Summaries Important notes the top

Notes

The Monthly climate summary, generally published on the first working day of each month, lists the main features of the weather in Northern Territory using the most timely and accurate information available on the date of publication; it will generally not be updated. More extensive discussion of significant weather events, along with later information and data that has had greater opportunity for quality control, will be presented in the Monthly Weather Review.

This statement has been prepared based on information available at 1 pm on Thursday 1 July 2021. Some checks have been made on the data, but it is possible that results will change as new information becomes available.

In some situations, some or all of the rainfall is in the form of hail or snow. In these cases the totals given are for the water equivalent: the depth of liquid water that results from melting any frozen precipitation. There can be significant 'undercatch' of snow in strong winds, meaning the true precipitation can be higher than that reported.

Averages for individual sites are long-term means based on observations from all available years of record, which vary widely from site to site. They are not shown for sites with less than 10 years of record, as they cannot then be calculated reliably.
The median is sometimes more representative than the mean of long-term average rain.

The Rank indicates how rainfall this time compares with the climate record for the site, based on the decile ranking (very low rainfall is in decile 1, low in decile 2 or 3, average in decile 4 to 7, high in decile 8 or 9 and very high is in decile 10).
The Fraction of average shows how much rain has fallen this time as a percentage of the long-term mean.

Where temperature area averages are mentioned, they are derived from the ACORN-SAT dataset.

Further information

Media
(03) 9669 4057

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