Baring some unexpected rain in the next few days I think it's safe to say the 2019-2020 Wet season is now a wrap. And what a fun 5 months of crazy weather it has been!
Total rainfall for Nov 2019 - Apr 2020 is 1,317mm.
1,317mm puts us about 100mm below the Mitchell Plateau Wet season average (Nov-Apr) of 1,416mm. Or 90% of the average Wet season rainfall. With last year being so dry we could certainly have used a lot more but, all things considered, it was essentially a standard Wet season.
It's worth noting that the average is based on weather observations from 1970 - 1986, which are the only accurate rainfall records for the area. I'd be curious to know, with a warming climate and changing weather patterns, if 1,416mm is still an accurate average for the previous 10 years. Despite being slightly below average this year it still the highest rainfall in north-western Australia.
What has really struck me about the Wet season is just how dependent this rainfall is on large, slow-moving tropical lows, as opposed to isolated local storms. For example, ex tropical cyclone Blake brought 423mm of rain in 6 days. And ex tropical cyclone Esther brought 268mm in 6 days. That's more than half of our Wet season rainfall in 2 storms - or 12 days - and almost as much rain as Melbourne gets in 12 months. It starts to explain why our Wet seasons can be very hit or miss, depending on those tropical lows and how they track across the Kimberley.
Nov: 24mm. Average: 127mm
Dec: 212mm. Average: 182mm
Jan: 581mm. Average: 379mm
Feb: 327mm. Average 367mm
Mar: 108mm. Average 320mm
Apr: 65mm. Average 41mm.
Total: 1,317mm. Average: 1,416mm.
Comentarios