Many locations in Queensland's North Tropical Coast saw large rainfall totals in a 24-hour period through to Sunday morning. Even though rainfall totals this large are not too uncommon for these locations, it is a little unusual so late in the wet season. 

A low-pressure trough combining with moist onshore winds around a high-pressure system in the southeast is the cause of this rainfall event. 

The area around Innisfail was hit the hardest with some locations receiving in excess of 200mm of rain. The wettest total was at Saltwater Creek with a massive 266mm. Innisfail Wharf (246mm) and Sweeney Creek (221mm) also cracked the 200mm mark but were the only other stations to do so. A handful of other locations around Innisfail experienced rainfall exceeding 100mm. A bit further north near Cairns also saw significant totals with Cairns Airport recording 103mm.

Image: Satellite (Himawari-8) imagery with 24-hour rainfall total overlay at 8:30am EST Sunday 

To put this into perspective, this is only the 4th highest 24-hour rainfall total for Cairns Airport this month. This has helped Cairns Airport to more than double its monthly rainfall total in April, a feat that has been similarly repeated for other locations in this area. Furthermore, at Innisfail Wharf, the 246mm recorded was its highest daily rainfall total since January 2017.

It's looking like this type of rain may continue for the next couple of days as the trough and strong onshore winds persist. A couple of locations in and around Innisfail and Cairns have already received over 20mm of rain since 9am on Sunday. The heavy rainfall should ease in the latter half of the coming week, although conditions should remain showery.