Storms sparked to life across the Top End on Friday, bringing heavy rain and over 150,000 lightning strikes.  

Initially storms formed over eastern and central parts of the Top End before moving to western parts and eventually offshore during the evening and early Saturday morning. Over 150,000 lightning strikes were recorded on Friday and early Saturday morning over the Top End, Tiwi Islands and the surrounding waters. Of these strikes, over 25,000 were cloud-to-ground events. 

Image: Over 150,000 lightning strikes over the Top End, Tiwi Islands and surrounding waters between 7:30am (ACST) Friday and 7:30am (ACST) Satruday. Image showers cloud-to-cloud and cloud-to-ground strikes

These storms not only brought a good dose of nature's fireworks, they also delivered heavy bursts of rain. On the mainland, the highest 10-minute rainfall total was at Gunn Point with 11mm.  Across the Beagle Gulf to the Tiwi Islands,  Pirlangimpi recorded a whopping 17mm in just 10 minutes. The highest 24 hour falls were located in the northwest corner of the Top End where 89mm was recorded at Mount Bundey, 57mm at Howley Creek and 55mm at Adelaide River Town. Darwin dodged the heaviest rain, recorded 9.4mm to 9am on Saturday. 

The storms were made possible by a broad region of low pressure lingering over much of northern Australia. Further storms are likely in the coming days as the low remains the dominate synoptic feature over the Top End.