Ben McBurney, 06 Jun 2013, 3:56 AM UTC
Record June rain in WA Kimberley
Western Australia's Kimberley has been drenched over the past 24 hours, with some places seeing their heaviest June rain on record.
Broome received 139mm in the 24 hours to 9am today, its heaviest daily June total on record and eight times its monthly average. In fact, Broome has not seen a heavier fall for any month (including the wet season) in a decade. This was also the first drop of rain the town has seen in June for four years.
Just a bit further east, West Roebuck picked up a mind-boggling 202mm, its heaviest June rain in at least 13 years. At times the rain was quite heavy, with 7mm being recorded in just 10 minutes at around 5am.
The cause of the record rain was a weak low pressure system off the northwest WA coast combining with warmer than usual sea surface temperatures over the Indian Ocean. This created a thick, slow-moving and moisture-packed northwest cloudband that has been dropping heavy rain from the Pilbara through to the Kimberley over the last few days.
The system will produce more rain over the Kimberley for the remainder of today and tomorrow, with a further 50-100mm possible in some parts. From Saturday, the system should weaken significantly with a return to dry-season like conditions likely from early next week
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