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Mount Isa and Alice Springs break longstanding rainfall records

Anthony Sharwood
Image: Precipitable water (a measure of available moisture for rain) and mean sea level pressure at 11pm (AEDT) on February 24, 2026. Source: Weatherzone
Image: Precipitable water (a measure of available moisture for rain) and mean sea level pressure at 11pm (AEDT) on February 24, 2026. Source: Weatherzone

Mount Isa in Queensland has had its wettest February on record, while the Northern Territory town of Alice Springs has recorded its highest number of rain days in February.

These are just two of the rainfall records that have tumbled as heavy rainfall continues across a vast swathe of Australia’s normally dry interior.

February 2026 rainfall in Mount Isa

After 40.4mm in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday, Mount Isa’s running monthly total is now 318.6mm. That beat the old record of 282.5mm in records going back to 1926.

February 2026 rainfall in Alice Springs

Alice Springs received 2.4mm in the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday, and while that was a relatively insignificant amount, it was the 15th day this February on which rain has fallen – a new record which includes a nine-day rainy streak earlier in the month.

While Alice Springs has not yet reached its highest rainfall total for February (record 241.6mm, running 2026 February tally 180.4mm), there remains the chance of showers and storms through till the end of the month.

Image: Loop indicating atmospheric water vapour over Australia in the 12 hours to 10 am (AEDT) on Wednesday, February 25, 2026.

Other outback locations with significant rainfall overnight

In the 24 hours to 9am Wednesday, some huge rainfall totals were recorded, including:

  • 169mm at Nappa Merrie, a cattle station in far southwestern Queensland near the South Australian border.
  • 90.5mm at Tibooburra (Fort Grey), a weather station located at a campground in the far northwest corner of NSW.
  • 72.8mm at White Cliffs, which was more than a quarter of that NSW outback town’s average annual rainfall in a day.
  • 49.2mm at Moomba Airport in South Australia’s North East Pastoral region, which brought the running monthly total to 182.8mm. That means Moomba has already exceeded its average annual rainfall of 173.4mm!

Why is so much rain falling in the outback?

A slow-moving low pressure system and associated trough has been linking up with a consistent feed of tropical moisture from the north.

Unusually, the low pressure system has remained in roughly the same spot for most of the week, and the weather pattern is not expected to change significantly for at least another couple of days.

Wet and stormy weather will also extend towards southern and southeastern Australia at times.

There’s even some positive news for Adelaide residents lamenting the fact they’ve had just 6.4mm of rainfall to date in 2026 while some tiny South Australian outback towns have received up around 200mm.

Wet weather should arrive in the SA capital on Friday, with the potential for some extremely welcome falls lasting into the weekend.

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