La Nina has already made its presence felt in Darwin, with this month already being the wettest October since 2010 - coincident with the last strong La Nina event.

The rain gauge at Darwin Airport, which has continuous records back to 1941, has registered 157.4mm so far this month. This is only 0.4mm shy of the October 2010 total (157.8mm).

Most of this month's rain (113mm) fell during the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday 8th, which was the site's highest October daily rainfall total on record.

Models indicate the presence of tropical moisture and instability through the remainder of the month, meaning there is a good chance that at least 0.4mm will be picked up at the airport.

Image: Forecast accumulated rainfall to the end of October, according to ECMWF’s Friday 12z run.

Looking further back in the records, October 1988, 1986 and 1978 collected 161.8mm, 169.8mm and 245.2mm, respectively; it is well within the realms of possibility that October 2020 could be Darwin’s wettest in 42 years.