Anthony Duke, 27 Aug 2015, 6:14 AM UTC
Improving conditions for the Alice Desert Festival
The Alice Desert Festival kicks off today until the end of next week but festival goers may have to dodge the rain to start with.
Yesterday, rain and thunderstorms brought some great unseasonal rain to Tennant Creek. During the course of Wednesday, the town collected 36mm making it the wettest August on records going back 46 years. The mean for this month is just 1.5mm. Yesterday's rain also takes this winter's total to just 0.4mm short of being the wettest winter in 29 years.
Further south, cloudy conditions across the Alice today are likely to persist throughout most of tomorrow. The cloud will make for a mild night, but thickening cloud overnight and early Friday will bring patchy rain and some thunderstorms. The rain isn't expected to be as heavy as what Tennant Creek saw, but around five millimeters could fall making for a damp start to the festival.
The good news is that the cloud and rain won't stick around. Skies are expected to clear early Saturday in time for the weekend and afternoon temperatures will begin to soar reaching 28 degrees on Sunday and 31 degrees on Monday.
A cool southerly change on Wednesday might be quite welcome, but skies will stay clear. Skies are expected to stay clear with temperatures rising again into the mid-high twenties for the perfect end to the festival next weekend.
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