Monsoon conditions affecting northern Australia

Rainfall exceeding 200mm in 12 hours around parts of Far North Queensland, Northern Territory, and Western Australia.

Transcript

00:00 The monsoon has arrived to bring prolonged periods of heavy rainfall,

00:04 thunderstorms and cloudy skies to the tropical north of Australia.

00:08 We've already seen cloud building over the recent days across those northernmost parts

00:13 of the country with showers and storms generating heavy falls in some of these areas.

00:18 Overnight last night we saw rainfall totals exceeding 200 millimetres about Queensland's

00:23 north tropical coast and that is associated with the monsoon trough. It's currently lying

00:30 across the north extending from northern parts of the Kimberley through the Top End and Gulf

00:34 of Carpentaria and into the Queensland Peninsula as well. Now we know this is the monsoon trough

00:40 because it's slow moving and sitting far enough south that it's directing prolonged periods of

00:46 moist northwesterly flow onto these land areas. Now that moist flow will generate significant

00:53 showers and storms over the coming days. The rain will be mostly clustered around the monsoon trough

00:58 and these two lows you see here but it may extend as far south as Broome over Western Australia,

01:04 Tennant Creek through the Northern Territory and Townsville or Mackay over Queensland.

01:09 Over the coming days heavy rainfall, severe thunderstorms and flash or riverine flooding

01:17 are all risks we can expect. Squally winds and elevated sea levels are also possible but rain

01:23 and flooding are really the most dangerous risks that we have ahead of us. Warnings may be issued

01:30 for some or all of these hazards over the coming days so residents and communities across northern

01:35 parts of Australia should have their monsoon plan in place and keep themselves up to date by the

01:40 Bureau's website for the forecasts and warnings. Now we're also keeping a close eye on a couple of

01:47 tropical lows which are developing along the monsoon trough over the weekend. If the conditions

01:52 are right and these systems stay over water long enough they may deepen into tropical cyclones.

01:58 However in this situation the risk of that happening is only low largely because they're

02:03 not staying over water long enough. But however these systems evolve whether or not they do become

02:09 tropical cyclones we are still expecting a heavy rainfall and flooding risk across those northern

02:15 parts of Australia. The rainfall totals over the coming days are likely to be widespread,

02:21 heaviest with thunderstorms and about the western side of Cape York Peninsula and western parts of

02:26 the Top End. That is because this moisture is coming in from the northwest pushing against

02:32 those west-facing coasts. With the monsoon upon us and this situation continuing to evolve it's

02:39 essential to follow all the latest forecasts and warnings via the Bureau's website or the

02:44 BOM Weather App. Catch you next time.