DANGEROUS WEATHER RISK REMAINS

You can almost smell it. The dry season is just around the corner. We can almost bid goodbye to sweaty, sticky mornings and timing our grocery shops around likely downpours to avoid soppy egg cartons and hair disasters.

Sunnier days are on the horizon, and plans can be made to hit the road and experience the great outdoors safely.

But we’re not there yet.

If you haven’t been paying attention, the likelihood of a cyclone forming will increase as of Monday.

That means there will be up to a 20 per cent chance that we could see a cyclone form.

And before that even happens, isolated storms and showers are still making themselves known across the Top End.

A low forming off the coast of Nhulunbuy is being watched eagerly, but many people may not realise that, up until the end of April, we’re still in the firing line for destructive wind and rain.

We’ve already seen these rainy and windy conditions pop up out of the blue last week, and that weather could continue.

Especially given the unpredictable nature of weather events in recent times.

La Nina, anyone?

Speaking to a local who remembers the events of 2006 – when Cyclone Monica hit the NT right before Anzac Day – she was shocked that people would still risk heading away for Easter.

The lingering memory of that late-in-the-season cyclone has stuck with her.

It doesn’t take much for a heavy band of rain to quickly dismantle a well-intentioned weekend of camping by a body of water.

Or to turn an unassuming waterfall into a dangerous mess of debris and rapids.

This latest update to the Tropical Cyclone Outlook comes as a timely reminder to be aware of the weather before making plans.

As the Territory enters a three-week period of long weekends, ensure you are stocked up on the essentials and have checked the forecast before heading away.

The last dregs of the wet season is not a time to become complacent and forget everything we’re told about the dangers of tropical weather up north.

It could be the difference between a memorable long weekend and one that ends in disaster.