Darwin is having its second wettest start to a wet season on record as monsoon rains continues to soak northern Australia.

The Australian tropics have been awash with heavy rain and thunderstorms over the last few weeks thanks to active monsoonal conditions and the development of tropical cyclones Darian and Ellie.

The map below shows how much rain has fallen across northern Australia so far this wet season, with the highest totals over the Western Top End and inland Kimberley.

Image: Observed rainfall between October 1, 2022 and January 3, 2023. Source: Bureau of Meteorology

In an average wet season, which runs from October until April, Darwin’s average rainfall is roughly 1678 mm.

This season, Darwin has already amassed more than a meter of rain and by 9am on Wednesday, January 4, the city had reached 1065.4 mm. This is Darwin’s second highest running total on record to this point in the wet season, beaten only by 1264.2 mm in 1996/97.

Image: An aerial shot of the Howard River, located north of Darwin, on December 30, 2022. Source: @nadine_yvonne_benson / Instagram

Darwin’s highest wet season total on record was 2918.4 mm in the La Niña-fuelled season of 2010/11. At this rate, there is a chance the current season could challenge this record.