SUMMER OF RAIN

CAIRNS has experienced its wettest summer since the season when Cyclone Yasi smashed the region and forecasters are warning more rain is on the way.

Nearly 1m of rain has fallen in the city over the past few months and January’s total of 664.6mm became the highest monthly total in almost six years.

Townsville copped the brunt of a low pressure system hovering over the North Queensland region, but the Far North could soon be in the firing line if models showing it moving northwest prove correct.

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Julian De Morton said the system was due to head west and there was a good chance it could move into the Gulf of Carpentaria and become a cyclone.

He said next week could also result in a weak monsoon flow which will affect the entire Far North and leave the Cairns area “pretty wet”.

“The exact days for heavier rain will be dependent on the synoptics and where the low is,” he said.

“The low may move into the Gulf, there’s certainly a chance into next week. If this low moved over water, there’s a pretty good chance of it becoming a cyclone.”

Cyclone outlooks for the Gulf and Coral Sea are very low for the next three days.

The bureau’s climate outlook also highlighted the breakdown of the weak and short-lived La Nina which could mean drier conditions during autumn.

This would be a reversal of weather fortunes for the region after the wet past two months.

The conditions continue to play havoc after two British tourists had to flee their vehicle when it was swept off a causeway near Forsayth, 300km south-west of Cairns, on Wednesday.