SEND ‘ER DOWN HUGHIE
THE heavens are set to open for the Townsville region today and deliver some much-needed showers.
The Bureau of Meteorology has forecast a 90 per cent chance of Townsville getting 5-15mm of rain with thunderstorms likely as well.
There is also an 80 per cent chance of rain over the weekend of up to 15mm.
Surrounding regions including Ayr and Ingham will likely have rain over the weekend, with Ayr expecting up to 25mm tomorrow.
Charters Towers could get up to 6mm, with the bureau estimating it has a 70 per cent chance of getting showers.
A deluge is sorely needed for Townsville, which had received just 2mm of rain up to Wednesday morning – well below the region’s December average of 128mm.
“It’s a little bit tricky forecasting the amount of rain, but we could be seeing upwards of 50mm in some local areas,” BOM meteorologist Michael Knepp said.
“There’s an upper trough moving through from Central Queensland and that will bring rain and you’re also likely to get thunderstorms coming along with it.
“It really depends on that upper trough, but it’s expected that there will be rain for the next three days or so.
“Hopefully some good showers over the next couple of days will improve Townsville’s rainfall for December.”
Charters Towers has topped the amount of rain received in the North Queensland area for December, receiving 15mm.
Temperatures are set to reach a maximum of 32C between now and New Year’s Day for Townsville, and dip no lower than 24C.
Local New Year’s Eve celebrations are unlikely to be affected by rain, which is forecast to have just a 20 per cent chance of falling on the region on the final day of the year.
The expected rainfall comes after parts of Queensland’s southeast corner received more than 25mm of rain over the Christmas period, including Mt Tamborine – which topped the charts on Christmas Day with 66mm – while Cairns was affected by storms yesterday which cut power supplies to a number of homes in the far north Queensland area.