Australian Weather News

Go to the main news page Find a place on a map

Wednesday 19 April 2000

Moisture from TC Rosita brings heavy rain to northern WA, western and southern NT
Towns in northern SA isolated
Rainfall for the 24 hours to 9am today (above), and maximum temperature variation from normal (below)
As tropical cyclone Rosita bears down on the WA coast near Broome, moisture from it has been streaming across the Kimberley and Northern Territory desert country to the Macdonnell Ranges around Alice Springs giving exceptional April rainfalls. Halls Creek Airport recorded its highest one day rainfall in 58 years this morning, with 93mm in the gauge, 50mm falling in the 3 hours before midnight last night. Fox River, 40km to the southeast, recorded 140mm. Across the border in the Territory, patches of heavy rain produced large totals for the Tanami Desert. The Rabbit Flat Roadhouse on the Tanami Track, 325km SE of Halls Creek, recorded 42mm between 6 and 9am, and a further 16mm to noon. Vaughan Springs Station, 230km farther down the track towards Alice Springs, recorded 72mm for the 24 hours to 9am. Heavy cloud cover kept top temperatures today 10 to 13 below average across much of the Centre.

 Many of the towns in northern SA have been isolated for days following patchy heavy rain over the past week. The problems of surface transport are an economic blow for the region which relies on tourist traffic from late autumn to spring.

Today's highest rainfall totals for the 24 hours to 9am

140.2 Fox River Halls Creek WA
93.0 Halls Creek AP WA
79.0 McCluer Is NT
72.6 Mt Padbury Three Rivers WA

Heavy falls in southern NT:
72.0 Vaughan Springs Mt Doreen
69.0 Newhaven
53.0 Rabbit Flat
38.0 Territory Grape Farm Ti Tree
35.2 Mereenie
33.6 Yuendumu
32.8 Gemtree Park
30.6 Undoolya Station

Today's highest & lowest temps

Other extremes

Rainfall:
Wyndham PO WA: 48mm in 9h to 3am
Halls Ck AP WA: 88mm in 12h to 9am, of which 50mm in 3h to midnight
Rabbit Flat NT: 58mm in 6h to noon, of which 42 fell in 3h to 9am

Flood peaks:
Paroo at Caiwarro Qld: 2.55m around 6pm with minor flooding.

Records set this day

Daily rainfall:
Halls Creek AP WA: 93.0mm is highest April fall in 58 years of record
Maximum Minimum
35.5 Croydon Township Qld 27.0 Barrow Is AP WA
4.5 Mt Read Tas -4.5 Charlotte Pass NSW

Greatest variations from normal

Maximum Minimum
+6.4
28.0 Cape Naturaliste WA		 +5.5
21.6 Kalbarri PO WA
-13.3
17.0 Jervois NT
-13.0
16.7 Yuendumu NT
-12.4
17.0 Giles MO WA		 -5.9
6.1 Eyre WA

  • Times stated are the clock time in force in the relevant state or territory

  • Stories, including those in the archives, are as new and corrected information becomes available, with updates underlined

  • Australian Weather News gratefully acknowledges the Bureau of Meteorology as the collector and main source of meteorological data in Australia, along with the thousands of observers who record the weather and rainfall daily. I also thank Don White and the many contributors to the Aussie Weather mailing list who routinely provide much appreciated information.