HALLELUJAH!
After 182 days of hell coping with the hottest wet season ever, today’s the day the dry season has finally arrived
BREATHE a sigh of relief, Territorians — Darwin’s worst ever Wet is finally through.
The last day of the Wet was, like six months of hell that preceded it, hot and humid.
The temperature peaked at 32.5C yesterday afternoon, with the humidity ranging from 51 to 94 per cent.
It capped off the hottest wet season ever recorded in the Territory.
The wet’s average temperatures across all NT locations were the highest recorded in the 73-year history of the NT’s Bureau of Meteorology.
Darwin registered the new record for highest wet season mean temperature at 29.5, with the previous record of 29.3, set in 2004.
While the Dry is expected to bring some relief, the unseasonably warm weather is expected to stick around for a while yet.
The bureau says El Niño is rapidly declining, but its effects are still bringing high temperatures to Northern Australia.
Averages in April were the highest on record.
Usually temperatures reach a maximum of 35C during April for just one day, but this April Darwinites agonised through 10 days of 35C heat.
Overnight temperatures were also high, with Darwin’s April average almost one degree higher than the long-term average.
The rest of the long weekend is going to be a stinker in the Top End, with a top of 34C expected today and a slightly cooler 33C forecast for tomorrow.
There’s a slight chance of showers both days.
It’s a toss of a coin as to whether next wet season will be a bit more satisfying.
The chance of La Nina forming later in the year is about 50 per cent, with eastern tropical Pacific sea surface temperatures cooling significantly in the past fortnight.