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Monsoonal flow into a deep low is bringing heavy rain & storms to north Qld & north NT while TC Hayley is slowly approaching the western Kimberley. An unstable airmass over inland WA is triggering showers & storms. Dry & mostly clear for southeast Aust under high pressure.
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Today, 12:25AM UTC
Metre of rain possible as 'landphoon’ lashes Queensland
Relentless Queensland rain continues this Monday morning, with numerous flood warnings in place, including a major flood warning for the Flinders River in the state’s Gulf Country. Rainfall totals in the hundreds of millimetres have already been received at multiple locations, with the strong likelihood that some spots could receive a metre of rain (1000mm) by the time this event is finished. To put that in perspective, that’s the rough equivalent of Brisbane’s annual average rainfall of 1054.8mm. The ongoing deluge is being caused by a large, complex monsoonal low pressure system which some meteorologists call by its unofficial title of a "landphoon". Image: 12-hour combined radar and water vapour loop showing the relentless influx of tropical moisture generating extremely heavy rain in two distinct parts of northern Qld from the evening of Sunday, December 28 to Monday morning, December 29, 2025. "A 'landphoon' is a large low pressure system with strong winds which resembles a tropical cyclone over land," Weatherzone meteorologist Joel Pippard explains. "The low pressure system forms embedded in the monsoon trough and has winds wrapping into it from both hemispheres, then spinning around it. There’s a huge convergence of tropical air that leads to flooding rainfall and strong, gusty winds." Rainfall in Queensland from Sunday through to Monday morning was concentrated in two main areas: The North Tropical Coast and Tablelands forecast district, where 24-hours totals to 9am Monday included: 369mm at South Mission Beach, about two hours south of Cairns 245mm at Bingil Bay, just north of South Mission Beach 228m at Euramo, not far inland from Tully The Gulf Country and North West forecast districts, where 24-hours totals to 9am Monday included: 313mm at Oakland Park, a large cattle station (Gulf Country) 295mm at Fish Hole Creek (Gulf Country) 238mm at Miranda Downs Station (Gulf Country) 103mm at Snake Creek near Cloncurry (North West) Many of Monday’s 24-hour rainfall observations for the three forecast districts mentioned were daily records for December. And they came on the back of some records the previous day, as Weatherzone meteorologist Jess Miskelly wrote on Sunday. The fact that cattle stations have received so much rain is of particular concern. A similar event in February 2019 caused devastating stock losses totalling hundreds of thousands across Queensland's north. One of the worst affected areas in that 2019 event was Cloncurry Shire Council. The town of Cloncurry received approximately 450mm in the first five days of the month in the 2019 event. Cloncurry has already received almost 300mm over the past six days in the current event, and further heavy rain is expected there for the next two to three days. It’s worth noting that January and February tend to be much wetter on average for Queensland’s Gulf Country and North West, making this December deluge remarkable not just for rainfall totals, but for its timing relatively early in the wet season.
28 Dec 2025, 7:35PM UTC
Tropical Cyclone Hayley forms northwest of the Kimberley
Tropical Cyclone Hayley has formed northwest of the Kimberley early on Monday morning, with residents and businesses readying themselves for heavy rainfall and strong winds. Hayley became the third system to be named within the Australian region early on Monday morning, located approximately 535 km northwest of Broome, WA. The other two systems to have been named were Severe Tropical Cyclone Fina in November and Tropical Cyclone Grant in December. Video: Satellite imagery on Sunday, December 28, showing the tropical low that would become Hayley developing to the northwest of the Kimberley. Source: Weatherzone. Current forecast track and intensity could see Hayley become a category 2 or 3 system later today or on Tuesday, less than 200 km north of Broome. However, unfavourable atmospheric conditions expected closer to the Kimberley coast could see this system weakening before making a potential landfall near Cape Leveque. Damaging to destructive wind gusts could reach 140 km/h along the coastline north of Broome late on Tuesday. Image: Forecast track for Tropical Cyclone Hayley as seen on the Weatherzone Layers page. Source: Weatherzone. Even if Hayley weakens below tropical cyclone intensity, heavy flooding rainfall is expected for parts of the Kimberley as the system tracks inland. Some areas could receive 200-300mm of rain in 24-36 hours, increasing the risk of flash flooding cutting off vital transport routes and roads. Image: Forecast 3-day rainfall accumulations according to the GFS computer model. Source: Weatherzone. Keep track of the latest warnings and tropical cyclone advisories on the Weatherzone Warning and Tropical Cyclone pages.
27 Dec 2025, 10:30PM UTC
Flooding rain over north Queensland
More than 100mm of rain has fallen over some part of northwest Qld for each of the last 6 days. East Qld hasn't been much drier, with every day except the 24 hours to 9am on the 27th also seeing 100mm+ of rain. And further heavy rain is forecast over the coming week. Rivers are rising, with the Gregory River in northwest Qld already at major flood levels. The culprit in the northwest has been a low pressure system lingering over the Gulf Country. This drifted off to the western Top End in the latter part of the Christmas week but is now back with a vengeance, aided by a monsoon trough. In the east, last week's rain was triggered by an active trough moving northward. This has now stalled near the northeast Qld coast and will weaken. But as extremely humid air flows from the Coral Sea into the low or "landphoon" over northwest Qld, it will be uplifted over the tablelands and trigger heavy rain and a "quasi monsoon" in the region between Cooktown and Townsville. The animation below shows one model's prediction of daily rainfall over the coming week. Image: Animation of 24-hour rainfall over the coming week, according to the ECMWF model with a north Qld "landphoon." Source: Weatherzone. Some notable stats that have already occurred include the heaviest December rain since: At least 1978 for Cloncurry Airport. The 117.6mm to 9am on the 26th was the heaviest December rain on record for the station which opened in 1978. (It was also the heaviest for any month since 2019). 2011 for Gregory Downs on the 27th with 103mm. 2012 for Richmond on the 27th with 52.9mm. 2013 for Normanton on 28th with 92.4mm. In the 24 hours to 9am today, Cardwell Gap was the wettest location in Australia with 217mm of rain recorded, 145mm of which fell in 3 hours late last night. Heavy rain is, of course, not unusual for the tropics in the summer. However, December is quite early in the season for this intensity of rain over the northwest, as evidenced by the above stats. Rainfall totals over the coming days are likely to be even higher with daily falls of 200-300mm expected over some areas. The wettest period, for both northwest and northeast Qld, looks like Sunday into Tuesday night. By the end of the month, some locations could accumulate nearly half a metre of rain, bringing December totals to well above average. There'll be an easing trend later in the week before another trough moving in from the west enhances rainfall again around the weekend before finally sending a drier change over most of Qld next week. Fossickers in the northwest can then move in to see what garnets, gold, amethyst or dinosaur fossils might have been unearthed. Keep up-to-date with the latest warnings and forecasts at: https://www.weatherzone.com.au/warnings and https://www.weatherzone.com.au/qld Image: Satellite and radar animation in the 12 hours to Sunday 28th morning, showing a low over the Gulf Country and rain and storms streaming over north Qld and the northeast NT. Source: Weatherzone. Image: Forecast district map of Qld. The Gulf Country, North West, Central West, Northern Goldfields and Upper Flinders, North Tropical Coast and Tablelands, and Herbert and Lower Burdekin will be the wettest areas in the coming few days. Source: Bureau of Meteorology.