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Brett Dutschke, 29 Sep 2014, 4:59 AM UTC

Now that's a dry season, Darwin

Now that's a dry season, Darwin
Dry season is almost over in the Top End and it has been an exceptionally dry one in Darwin where no rain has been recorded since May, potentially its driest June-to-September on record. If Darwin stays dry until 9am tomorrow (September 30th) this June-to-September becomes the driest in 74 years of records, equal with 1976. Despite a totally dry June-to-September this dry season has not been a record dry one due to a few showery days in May which delivered 8.6mm to the airport. The official Top End dry season which runs from the beginning of May to the end of September fell 36mm short of the average this year, the driest since 2011 when just 3.8mm fell. The driest dry season on record was in 1953 and 1949 when 0.5mm was received. For most of this season the Top End was under the influence of dry southeasterly winds which led to warmer-than-normal days, including the second hottest September day on record, and cooler-than-normal nights, including the coldest August night on record. One effect of the dry spell has been a reduction in lushness of gardens and parks and a hardening of the ground. The NTFL season which starts this weekend may be off to a flier with high-scoring footy but potentially more injuries due to the harder grounds. Another effect has been a reduction in dam levels, from 100% full in May to 81% full now. Given the recent dry spell one might expect dam levels to be lower than the same time last year when the dry season brought 35mm of rain. But at the same time last year dams were at 66% capacity, 15% lower than now. This difference is largely due to the the 2013-2014 wet season bringing 1870mm of rain compared to the 2012-13 wet season bringing just 1400mm. The next chance of rain is early tomorrow morning, but only a slight risk of a brief light shower, more likely about Point Stuart and the Tiwis. The next best chance for a shower is next weekend when a weak low pressure trough deepens slightly.
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