Skies open to get July off to very soggy start

Weather defies the norms

JULY is off to its wettest start in years, but forecasters say the Far North’s unseasonal drenching is set to ease later this week.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, a combination of unusually high onshore moisture flow and an upper trough out west sent the rain clouds right over the Cairns coast.

Bureau forecaster Rick Threlfall said the weather would start to clear up today in line with a typical July dry.

“The remaining rain activity will clear up before becoming nice and sunny for the rest of the week,” Mr Threlfall said.

Tourists Sebastian Romahany from Venezuela and Pily Gonzales from Mexico were unlucky enough to arrive in Cairns when the rain was starting on Friday, forcing them to spend the weekend indoors.

“We went to the movies and the botanic gardens, which was nice but would’ve been better if it were sunny,” Ms Gonzales said.

A trip to the Esplanade lagoon on Monday afternoon left them shivering, even though the rain had cleared up.

“It was just freezing,” Mr Romahany said.

The Cairns Airport recorded 34mm of rain throughout the heaviest fall period, 9am Sunday to 9am yesterday.

In that same period, Innisfail recorded 54mm. Babinda Boulders recorded 75mm.

The Tablelands missed out on some potentially beneficial falls. Mareeba only received 6mm. Port Douglas recorded 34mm.

The heaviest falls recorded on Sunday were at Clyde Road, a station between Cairns and Innisfail, which had 95mm.

While not record-breaking, the falls combined with the relative dryness of the month that had come before suggesting a subtle shift in Cairns’ climate. Back in March, the two major flooding events that hit the region broke what had been a relatively dry spell.

Bureau of Meteorology Queensland manager Bruce Gunn said rain activity in Cairns over the past five years suggested, while average rainfall totals might be going down, there was potential for more intense rainfall events.

“Much of the central to north tropical coast has had below to well below average rainfall,” he said.

“While natural variability will continue to impact weather in FNQ, it is expected average temperatures in all seasons will continue to increase.”

Pictures: STEWART McLEAN MAKING A SPLASH: Sophie Kasurinen, 8, of Tolga has a wet walk along the Esplanade while visiting her grandmother during the school holidays.

RIGHT AT HOME: A seagull wanders through a puddle on the Esplanade as the wet weather continued.

WATER, WATER EVERYWHERE: Workers at the Cairns Cruise Liner Terminal secure the visiting ship Pacific Aria when it arrived yesterday morning.