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Tropical moisture is combining with a low over the NT and a trough and front in the southeast to bring heavy rain and storms, leading to flooding over SA, Vic and the NT. Thunderstorms elsewhere across northern Australia, with more settled weather in the southwest with a high.
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Today, 8:37AM UTC
SA's fine line between dry and flooding rain
Much of South Australia's south, including Adelaide, has been teased by sprinkles of rain while the state's north floods in torrential downpours. Before this weekend, much of SA had not recorded any rain for two-to-three months. Some ended the dry spell with less than a millimetre, others ended it with 100mm and resultant flooding. Flooding in the north has been most notable in the Flinders and the adjacent part of North West Pastoral, where in excess of 100mm has been dumped since midnight last night. This has led to flooding not seen in the areas in several years. Dusty creeks turned raging and spilled across paddocks, roads, rail lines and into homes. This was mostly evident in the area between Wilmington, Hawker and Woomera, where 70-to-120mm has fallen today. Almost all of this rain fell in just six hours, 50-to-100mm in three hours and 30-to-60mm in just one hour in some places, including Wirrappa and Bookaloo on the Stuart Highway. Other centres recording big rainfall include some in the Flinders: 100mm at Arkaba 88mm at Hawker 73mm at Quorn, Hammond and Orroroo Rainfall of this intensity has less than two percent chance of occurring in any year. For Quorn, it has been the heaviest rain in five years and remarkably its first rain in two months. Some flooding was also reported further south, in the Mid North and Riverland, where a few properties recorded as 30-to-50mm. Not too far further south, including Adelaide, the contrast couldn't be more stark. Cricket games went ahead on dusty fields in desperate need of good watering. Take Keith in the southeast, for example. No rainfall recorded today or on any other day since just before Christmas, two months ago. One state, but a boundary line between flooding and dust. Image: Satellite, radar and lightning across South Australia on Sunday, February 22, 2026, indicating the line between wet and not-so-wet. Looking ahead, the low pressure trough bringing this rain will continue moving east, taking rain and storms with it across Tasmania, Victoria and New South Wales. A low connected to the trough will remain near-stationary on the order with the Northern Territory for several days, bringing major flooding to the area and surrounds. More than 400mm in four days has already cut off a remote NT community with more rain to come Remote NT community cops biggest downpour in over a decade. The positive news for the drier parts of SA, the remnants of the low is a chance to draw rain (and storms) across a large part of the state late this week or next weekend. Unfortunately for some, it may mean further flooding. Image: Forecast 7-day rainfall to 10:30pm CDT Sunday 1 March according to ECMWF model.
21 Feb 2026, 2:47AM UTC
Remote NT community cops biggest downpour in over a decade
The remote community of Alpurrurulam in the Northern Territory has recorded 250 millimetres of rain since 11pm last night, more than twice its monthly average, and its biggest downpour in more than 10 years. This has taken the four-day rain total beyond 400mm. The Barkly Tablelands community, about 180 kilometres west of Mount Isa, recorded most of that rain (205mm) in six hours between 11pm and 5am. As a result, flooding has now set in, threatening to isolate Alpurrurulam and nearby Lake Nash Cattle Station. The road in and out, the Sandover Highway, has reportedly already become undrivable in the area. Image: radar indicating intense rainfall and thunderstorms in the bulls-eyed area of Alpurrurulam. This latest rain intensity may remind residents of December 2022, when about 350mm fell in four days, cutting off the area from food-truck supplies for weeks. Both the current and December 2022 rain events have less than a one percent chance of occurring in any year. Whilst the heaviest rain appears to have passed, there is no sign of a lengthy dry spell in the next week. Daily rainfall is expected for at least a week, potentially more than a week-and-a-half. A further 100mm or more is on the cards. Considering how flat the country is, water could be covering the ground well into March. Image: Access modelled forecast accumulated rainfall for the 84 hours from 3:30am CST Saturday 21 February until 3:30pm CST Tuesday 24 February. The offending low pressure system is likely to be slow-moving, even becoming stationary at times, continuing to feed off ample tropical moisture, causing daily showers and thunderstorms to completely saturate the ground. The heaviest rain should now become focussed further to the south, likely making the Plenty Highway impassable for the second time in a fortnight. Travellers are urged to keep up to date with road conditions and Australia Bureau of Meteorology weather warning summary
20 Feb 2026, 12:49AM UTC
The hidden danger of slow-moving thunderstorms
Large parts of Queensland and New South Wales face the risk of slow-moving thunderstorms over the next couple of days, with the potential for localised flash flooding in many areas. When we think of thunderstorms, we tend to think of them rushing rapidly across the landscape, either as individual cells or as part of a squall line. Such storms usually dissipate within an hour or less, and wild wind gusts are part of the package. Slow-moving thunderstorms pose a different kind of danger. While damaging winds can still occur in slow-moving storms, the biggest danger tends to be from prolonged bursts of intense rainfall, as storms effectively park themselves over a location for an extended period. That’s the risk for parts of NSW and Queensland this Friday and into the weekend. Why are the current storms so slow-moving? Image: Four-hour radar loop showing relatively slow-moving storms within a 1000km radius of Townsville, Qld, on the morning of February 20, 2026. In order for thunderstorms to form, you need three key elements: Low-level atmospheric moisture is one requirement. You also need instability (where a parcel of warm air rises through cooler air). Thirdly, you need a mechanism to lift air. Sometimes the trigger mechanism that forces air to rise is the strong wind associated with frontal systems. Sometimes it’s topography (like a mountain range which forces air to rise). And sometimes it’s a low pressure trough, where air that has flowed in from surrounding areas of higher-pressure areas is forced upward because it has nowhere else to go. Areas of low pressure with numerous near-stationary troughs are the dominant broad-scale weather features over Australia this Friday. With such a pattern, storms tend to be slow-moving due to a lack of strong steering winds. Heavy Qld rainfall totals under slow-moving storms In the 24 hous to 9am Friday, numerous Queensland locations saw more than 100mm of rainfall. They included: 142mm at Upper Finch Hatton Creek, just west of Mackay 135mm at Alligator Creek, 25km southeast of the Townsville CBD 112mm at Coolagh, near Longreach, a huge total for a location closer to the NT border than the east coast It’s also worth noting that accumulations of 40mm per hour were recorded in relatively slow-moving storms just west of Townsville, while Townsville itself saw more than 50mm in just two hours between 6:30am and 8:30am. That’s the sort of downpour which can cause localised flooding. Queensland is currently experiencing widespread riverine flooding in the state’s west, after recent heavy rainfall events. Numerous warnings are in place. For the latest thunderstorm information for your area, keep checking the Weatherzone warnings page, especially during the afternoon and evening.