The much-anticipated monsoon trough crossed onto the upper Northern Territory a few days ago on New Year's Eve, bringing a prevailing northwesterly flow and heavy rainfall. Just after the New Year's Eve celebrations, the monsoon descended upon Darwin, causing 120 mm of falls on Darwin Airport and 156 mm to Wagait Beach. This is just after Darwin had a below average December of just 108 mm. The monsoon trough is seen as a large, low-pressure convergence zone where moist northwesterly winds meet dry southeasterly winds; that is, a region where a clear and distinct change in the moisture content and direction of the winds occur. This region dipped down from the Timor Sea, signaling the beginning of the monsoon season for the western Top End. Weather forecasters watch this trough for embedded low pressure systems, some of which may later develop into cyclones. The western portion of this monsoon trough should continue to traverse south over the coming weeks as it is being dragged by a low pressure cell, bringing moist winds to far north WA while staying north of tropical Queensland.