Parched FNQ as the wet dries up

THE Far North is tipped to record one of the driest wet seasons with up to 84 per cent less rainfall recorded in parts of the region.

While the Far North’s wet season usually runs from October to April, the 2019/20 season had a late start.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, the towns that have received the least amount of rain this wet season compared to the average were Weipa and Cooktown.

Both recorded 84 per cent less rainfall than the average, with totals of 1520mm and 1186mm.

This is followed by Cairns and Mareeba with 1103mm and 506mm rainfall to date, a 62 per cent drop on the average.

Innisfail recorded a 57 per cent drop, with 1530mm of rain over the 2019/20 wet season period.

BOM forecaster Selim Hannissy said the Far North was now on the back end of the wet season, with no more significant rainfall predicted.

“January, February and March are usually the quite active periods,” he said.

“It’s not unprecedented to get a late burst, but at this stage it looks less likely.

“Most of the activity (during the wet season) was up over the Far Northern peninsula due to monsoon trough activity and some tropical lows.

“But as for the north, it’s below average.”

The Far North has also experienced no significant weather events such as tropical cyclones or severe thunderstorms since March last year, when Tropical Cyclone Trevor crossed the Queensland coast just south of Lockhart River as a severe category 3 cyclone.

Mr Hannissy said it wasn’t completely uncommon for there to be no cyclones during a Far North Queensland wet season.

“You could have a lot of tropical cyclone activity in the region in the Coral Sea,” he said.

“But yet none make landfall … it might just never cross the coast.”