Back to wet old days?

Like living in the ‘70s, says cane grower

RECORD-BREAKING rainfall in February and good rain in January has many welcoming the return to the wet season of old but how does the 2019 wet season really stack up with those of yesteryear?

In the past eight years rain collected in the gauge at the Cairns Airport in December has been down on the 182.7mm monthly average, with the majority of readings scraping to get above 50mm.

However in 2010 and 2016 totals of 362mm and 357.8mm, SPORTS fans are rejoicing in Port Douglas with the opening of the town’s first dedicated sports bar.

The new N17 Burger Co expansion on Macrossan St has respectively, were recorded at Cairns Airport and a whopping 785mm in December last year.

The eight-year average for December comes in at 242.5mm, well up on the December average despite most months being well below the average totals.

Smithfield cane grower John Westaway, since starting out on the land in 1969, has noticed rain patterns rotate in cycles, but this wet season had delivered something extraordinary. opened and punters are sure to be impressed by an array of large, high-definition screens and sporting memorabilia.

The bar occupies the former Under Wraps sandwich bar and will cater to sports-mad tourists and locals alike.

“We have not seen rain like this for a while,” he said.

“I compare this wet season to the ones of the ’70s when it used to rain. We used to get a fair bit of rain in those days.”

“The weather it goes round androundinacycle...the’70s were wet, very wet but we can get four inches a night and it does not seem to worry us.”

But for those out west, Mr Westaway said it was a different story.

“I don’t know how you go from drought to being in an inland

Owner Simon MacLeod opened a smaller burger bar next door last year as a late night diner with an eye on designing a venue purely for watching sport.

That vision is now a reality with the bar flinging open its sea in three of four days. I don’t know how you get your head around that.”

Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Kimba Wong attributed above-average rainfall this summer to the lingering monsoon trough responsible for the flooding of the Daintree and Ross Rivers.

“It did stall around that area for quite a while, mainly because there was nothing that came through from the south to push it away,” she said.

Since 1943 there have been doors to the public this morning. Patrons are treated to a stylish new facade with its own shopfront, restaurant seating and booths, multiple screens and a sound quality tailored for live sport.

A new menu has just been 18 years where the January rain totals have not reached 200mm, with six before 1965.

The 787.2mm in the gauge in January marked one of the wettest Januarys on record.

There have only been six wetter years since 1943 with 1981 holding the record for the wettest ever January when 1417.4mm was recorded.

With a total of 380.2mm collected in February the official end to summer was a dry one when compared to the average of 445.8mm. released and will be served from the current N17 kitchen to both venues.

Diners can now feast on a prawn, vegan or sriracha chilli pulled beef burger along with the venue’s more traditional offerings.