Frog Weather

Yes, frog weather has arrived in the north over the past week.

With close to 600mm in the rain gauge since the week prior to Christmas, including one big day with close to 200mm [ many other places with much more than this, and on multiple days] the monsoon arrived in serious mode.  Ground developed a serious squelch - absolutely saturated!

Unfortunately these conditions also accentuate conditions for the nasty soil borne disease meliodosis - often fatal.  Our neighbour was infected and although now on the mend, had a nasty,awful,  horrible time and seems to have suffered quite badly with pain.  He is recovering, thankfully.  At least locally in Darwin, if you present at emergency at the hospital, they are sufficiently aware of the issue to start treatment quickly - a major step to prevent death.  I noted when at the doctor myself a few days ago - there was a poster about the disease on the wall - a needed warning!  

The rain was however, a pleasant relief, given the dry, yet humid weather of the past two months of so.

Now - New Years Eve - it is drier, with no rain for a couple of days, although humid with rain around - just not in the rain gauge!

The expected cyclone fizzled into a tropical low as it moved SE across the NT- mainly because it failed to move over water and pick up intensity, yet it was an important and major event, as it moved SE to South bringing RAIN .

It brought good drought breaking rain to the parched areas of western and south western Queensland, Barkly Tablelands, the SE of the Northern Territory and is continuing to move south with more rains forecast at least for today in those regions.

Western Queensland was in serious drought - and had been for some years.  I bet there are some glimmers of smiles on property owners faces now.  BUT........it will be a long and difficult time back to recovery, as most places have got rid of stock and no doubt prices for new stock will rise as demand escalates over the next few weeks or more.  

They do need more rain- not necessarily huge quantities just a more normal rainy season the help rebuild pastures, vegetation and soil cover.  Lets hope they really have a decent rainy season.

For Darwin, a few days without rain are welcome - gets the solar HWS charged up, and allows a few activities outside.  The cloud cover is still around which keeps pool water temperatures a bit lower, and the monsoon wind flow is still strong at around 20 - 35km/hr from the west, also creating a few miserable choppy waves at local beaches.

Still plenty of green tree frogs around at night though, enjoying the change in weather!  AND - so far seen no cane toads this past week or two. Even a healthy and fat Torres Strait Pigeon or two around.

Torres Strait pigeon on African Mahogany tree

It's VERY HOT........Trees Thrive

Over the past week the weather has turned NASTY, VERY NASTY.  Hot and sticky, relatively windless and oppressive.  Sunday was awful- 36.9 maximum [ just 0.3C below all time hottest for November] and there is little relief in the offing.  Oh for a cooling storm!

There has been virtually no rain around Darwin over the past month or so, after a burst on one day of around 15 -  25 mm.  While there has been rain south of Darwin, it has not penetrated as far north as city areas, although there has been rain south of the city around Berry Springs and Adelaide River, and even further south to Katherine.

But oh the local trees.............they are flowering magnificently.

Pride of India - pink and purple, Albizzia / Samanea saman the majestic rain tree covered in yellow fluff,  Poinciania  [ Delonix regia] - both red and orange forms; a wide range of colours in frangipanni, a few yellow flowered Peltophorum,  Allosyncarpia sp - now more common as a street tree in Darwin city and even in a few suburbs with their attractive pale yellow/ lemon bunched flowers.

One should not forget the displays of bougainvilia shrubs - white, purple, red and many more colours also now in full flower.  They thrive on dry weather!  

It is time.........the regular pre wet season flowering.

Purple Pride of India street trees

Red Poinciania in flower

Peltophorum in flower - bright yellow

The piece de resistance - a magnificent orange poinciana [ fairly uncommon] near the Trower Road overpass, in absolutely glorious full flower

That Time of Year - Troppo Season

There are signs, apart from the hot days and hot nights, as well as the high humidity.

These include:

ripe mangoes increasing in abundance

flowering rain trees in profligate colour and then leaving their flowers on the ground

madly flowering yellow Tabeuia argentea trees along Trower Road from Casuarina to the end

tempers shortening, more cross words

increasing use of air conditioners

increasing or even re-instated use of swimming pools and spas [ usually usage abandoned in the dry season as it is too cold for locals]

increased use of liquid refreshments - of all types

lawns growing

tourists leaving town

AND...............last but not least - green tree frogs noisely croaking in any damp place, or at any sign of rain! 


All are now occurring....................must be close to the troppo season in Darwin.

green tree frog

!

Crazy Weather in the Tropics

Fires are creating an enormous problematic smoke haze over Singapore and Johor Bahru state in Malaysia - fires in Indonesia.

And while this seems to happen almost every year in the dry season, it has been exceptionally bad this week with the haze and smog reaching dangerous levels that can be very unhelpful to your health.

It might have cleared a bit today, but still NOT good.

The Top End is beset for over a week with overcast windy cloudy weather and a few light rain showers around the region.  None in our gauge, but certainly been rain around with falls up to 3-4mm, but most 1-2mm.  It is still very cloudy tonight, and wind has dropped, so humidity is up.

Might be a bit sunnier and clearer tomorrow, or so they say.

Cloudy weather means the solar hot water system needs an electrical boost, and with our current shortest day of the year it is currently just tepid - not good for showering!


So............cloud on both sides of the equator.  Not common at all!

UPDATE - on 26 June, HAIL recorded in Singapore.........definitely crazy.

smoke haze Singapore June 2013

 

smoke from Sumatra streaming across Singapore
 

Ours is not that bad!!! 

The Dry Season? Maybe?

Nice to have a weekend with sunshine, clear cloudless blue skies, low humidity and no rain, after the past few were wet.

It might be the start of our wonderful dry season - maybe.

Temperatures are still high in the day, but there have been a few locations with below 20C nights around the outskirts of Darwin over the past two mornings.  Has to be a good sign.

Then late today, some clouds developed to the SE - often a sign of showers to come.

Enjoying the weather while I can........but not to be surprised if there are a few more showers to come.  Hey.......might not be too bad if it waters the garden though.

A REAL Monsoon at Last

What a wonderful weekend................a monsoon at last!!!!

Cool cloudy days, some periodic sunny overcast skies, and monsoonal showers.  Not a lot of rain, around 40mm at our place in the gauge this morning [most from a decent burst early this morning] and maybe 10mm today.  But at last some relief from the horrible crappy hot weather.

More monsoonal showers tomorrow, but alas.........maybe drier after that.

Just nice while it is happening.

And the frogs are just loving it.

What a Great Week - for The Weather

It has been a great week for the weather in Darwin and most of the Top End.

A burst of what has been ultra cool air and a strong SE wind has resulted in cool dry conditions all across the Top End, fantastic stuff!!

Darwin has had a few nights around 14C, with another 3-4 nights predicted around the 15 - 17 C range with days of 27-28C, basically through to early next week and over the coming long weekend.  But with the dry winds, the apparent temperature is much lower - around 12-13C at the low end and 24-25C at the max, with glorious warm and very balmy conditions.  Even pleasant enough for jeans and decent collared shirt, and there was no unpleasant sweat while walking around.  THAT is a change.

Have even had to resort to a light blanket on the bed.

Inland, the conditions are much cooler at night with actual minimum temperatures around 8-10C, and maxing out around 28C.

People have a spring in their step!  It is what makes Darwin, these conditions, and the awful hot humid steamy conditions of November are forgotten, at least with weather like this now.

You Know It Is Hot When.......

The monsoon has gone missing and the weather is hot.

New Year's Day, a slow start that developed into a house clean up, and related requirements, even cleaning the spa [ yikes it needed it......debris off the roof after that was cleaned], is now meandering into late afternoon.

But it has been stinking hot.......so hot that even the dog, who already had had a cooling clean with the hose and a wash decided that it ws so hot a move into the office and the air conditioning was a sensible option. First she moved to lying outside the office with the cool air trickling beneath the office doors, then as the door was opened.......in she went to lie on the cool tiled floor. Where she stayed, while cleaning the house continued.

Sensible dog!!

The Missing Monsoon

We sort of lucked out, with Cyclone Grant passing by Darwin for Christmas 2011. Or is that got lucky?

Not so lucky, definitely, were people south of Darwin, around 250kms or so, a little north of Katherine, who copped a massive flash flood caused by monsoonal rain – some [almost] 400mm of overnight rain. This caused monumental road and rail line damage, including a major derailment and probably some environmental issues due to copper concentrate going in the river from the derailment and severely damaged several bridges, effectively cutting Darwin off from the rest of the country.



The rail line might be out for months is my guess, but the road [Stuart Highway] is now reopened, albeit on reduced service levels [ speed and some other restrictions] initially, with work to fix it probably also likely to take months and several millions of dollars [ remember – still 3-4 months of wet season to come yet].

A major disaster event.

Plenty of photos on the internet.

Since Boxing Day though, rain has stopped in Darwin. The weather is back to 35C days, clear skies and ultra high humidity, along with hot nights [29C at night].

This afternoon, and not before time, we have had around 15mm in a storm, but we are missing some monsoonal weather. Cloudy skies, occasional rain showers, and cooler [say tolerable 30 -31C days, 24-25C nights] conditions. While extended monsoonal weather makes for very poor clothes drying and does get you down a bit after several weeks, it does allow tempers to ease due to cooler conditions, and there is a reasonably steady north west monsoonal breeze, also aiding one feeling a bit cooler . A week of monsoonal weather with 10 - 20mm of rain daily would cool things down.

The monsoon has gone away, maybe sucked into Queensland as part of the tail end of ex Tropical Cyclone Grant.

Can we please have a slightly cooler few days, with some cloud cover?????

[photo taken NT Department of C and I, 2011]

Crappy Weather

It is.......and I am being polite!

Now 10pm, temperature is 31C and apparent temperature is close to 36C. This "apparent temperature' combines temperature, humidity and breeze to arrive at a different figure - more akin to what people feel the temperature is.

There is little breeze......apart from the wind flow out of the air conditioner!!

Maximum temperature today was a smidgen under 36C, although the humidity was down a little, and the apparent temperature close to 38C. The skies are clear, the sun is blasting down, and the radiant heat from the ground, concrete paths and driveways and the like is quite phenomenonal. And that is by 0900, getting worse s the morning goes on as there is little breeze in the mornings, with the maximum discomfort mostly around midday before the sea breeze kicks in, at least a little.

A single mm of rain overnight, but that cooled nothing! There has been a little rain, with 10mm two days ago, and several overnight falls of just 1mm each time. Some cloud cover would be nice, so would a breeze.

But it is that period...........the doldrums, when breezes are few.

One thing, though..... the solar hot water sure is VERY hot!!!

Hot Nights and Hotter Days

A cool day today, as temperature only reached 32C, and a cooler night now, although still 28C as I write this.

With most nights now around 27C as a minimum, the airconditioner is getting a good work out, in the office during the day and in the house at night.

Most days in the past week have been around 34C, and inland even a few kilometres that max is often 37 -39C. And it is humid, so humid you sweat [ note NOT perspire] even standing still! And it will get warmer.....and warmer......for a while yet.

Ah the joys of living in the monsoon tropics!! At least the green tree frogs are beginning to utter mating calls, even though we have really not had a good, decent shower of rain here [ been a little around, but none over our way].

There are plenty of trees flowering in anticipation of rain, with most weeping rosewoods in full flower as are the yellow Tabebuia argentea [http://monsoon-frog.blogspot.com/2009/09/fabulous-yellow-median-strip-flowering.html ], and the frangipanni are magnificent, with lots of flowers.

A COOL Blast

It is mid September........and it should be warm to hot, even at night.

But we have a coooool blast at the present. No, not complaining at all........and I have no doubt that it will not last more than a few days. Then back to warm and humid weather. So lets enjoy it!

Temperature fell to just over 16C last night in Darwin. Thought it might be cold when it was already below 20C by about 11pm last night. Definitely was a cold one. And the relative humidity is very low this morning - around 20%.

Even colder last night out of town in the rural area where temperature dropped to 8.2C at Middle Point, the second coldest night EVER for there, and in September, which is a bit strange, as most cold nights are in the June - early August period. Strong winds and a total fire ban today, but it is warm and sunny. A wind chill factor of 7 degrees, giving an apparent temperature of only 17C now [ actual temperature is 24C]

The office is quite cool this morning, even with no fan running either.

Do not think it will last.....maybe one or two more nights below 20C, then back to the humidity. For the next 6 months!

Darwin - What a Ripper of a Dry Season 2011 - So Far

The past two weeks have seen some great cool dry season weather here in Darwin.

As I write this at 9pm at night it is 17C and cooling rapidly. Cool enough for a light fleece or jumper even. Many nights, or rather early mornings have been around 13 -15C over the past two weeks. Up to 28C, if lucky, in the day, but with a few around 25C max. Lots of sunshine too......eleven hours approximately every day.

Truly a magnificent dry season so far, and it seems with more to come this week........predictions of a similar pattern this week, with 16 - 17c nights.

Last year the dry season did not ever get started, and this year has been truly different and a great dry season so far. They say if it gets cool early in the dry.......it will continue the same way.

Even the swimming pools are very cool - 21C water temperature earlier today on the sign outside the local pool......that is COOL!!

Roll on 2011 dry season!!!!

It's COLD in Darwin!!

Darwin is COLD this morning......a minimum of 14.4C with a low humidity, means an effective temperature of around 9C.

Inland, effective temperatures were closer to 5-7C, with one reading of 4C meaning an effective temperature of -1C..........thats cold!.

And you thought Darwin was never cold! In Alice Springs, quite a few nights in a row below freezing.

Many users of fleece jackets today.......at least for a while, as day temperatues of 30C are expected later.

And there are at least a few more days of similar weather still to come according to the Met Bureau.

Toooooooooo cold for frogs to go swimming.

COOL Weather

Yes, it can get cool in Darwin. Most people never believe that to be true, but this week has seen quite a few cool nights - with last night a minimum of 17C. Likely to be even cooler over the weekend!

And...........there is a wind chill factor too. Cool weather usually means low humidity, often with east or south east winds from across the continent. So the apparent temperature is often 3-5 degrees C less than the measured temperature. A temperature effectively of around 13C this morning.

Most homes are designed to be open to breezes, so interior areas can cool quickly, and many have tiled floors. They get COLD on the usual bare feet when moving around the house, and there is a breeze blowing.

It is all relative...........but definitely cool for Darwin. Even daily maximum temperatures are below 30C. Cool nights are considered excellent for mango flowering........maybe a good crop this year.

Should even have another week of similar weather, driven by a slow moving, large high pressure system in southern Australia.

Cool but enjoyable........even a bit cool for swimming!

The Dry Season 2011

How quickly the season changes in the tropics.

Less than a week ago [16th April] we had a cyclone off the NW coast of WA heading for Timor, and wet overcast conditions in Darwin that were typically monsoonal, and regular almost daily rain.

And then a large high pressure system moved across temperate Australia.........and with that the dry season has kicked in.

Nights this week have been dry and cool, with the last few below 20C. That is the magic figure for a "cool" night in Darwin [ it is all relative]. Yes, we may get a few more showers, a storm even, over the next few weeks. But......a fantastic start to the dry season. Many people are planning camping over Easter, a trip that was not probably even on the agenda last week, and plenty more are planning a fishing trip.

You can feel a bit invigorated, after about four and a half months of very regular, just about daily rain, including a cyclone.

Eggs Benedict for Breakfast - at Home!

With a three month long [ absolutely true - first started on 11 December and has not gone off shore since] rainy monsoon we need cheering up. Something to beat the rain, which has been on all but a few days.

Why not a great breakfast to lift the spirits?

Eggs Benedict are a bit of a favorite for breakfast, but getting the Hollandaise sauce just right is a tricky issue. Consistency and lack of lumps being issues that are a bit difficult to deal with in the usual double saucepan version of making the sauce. That alone puts one off preparing it.

Voila!........we have a new kitchen device - a Thermomix and it does the job excellently, at a setting of 90C, just below boiling, in 8 minutes.

We have a new Scanpan egg poacher too, and today was the day for a double hit.

A great Hollandaise sauce, eggs a little soft and runny in the centre, on toasted Turkish bread [ preferred to the traditional muffin]. YUMMY!!!

It will be tried again........for sure.

TC Carlos - an update

Today was mostly dry, although more rain, albeit not as heavy, tonight, as the now ex cyclone has moved to the SW away from Darwin. The sun even peeped out and that was good for the solar hot water system!

But the fat lady has not sung and it ain't over yet.......

Lots more rain now, in areas S of Darwin and tonight Adelaide River township has flooded, and residents near the Darwin River Dam look likely to have some inundation as the spillway of the dam has overflowed, and that could continue for days yet.

This now tropical low [ ex tropical cyclone Carlos] should bring heavy rain to the areas in the 70 - 150km south of Darwin and across to the west into the Victoria River region. Forecast maps show it crossing back over the sea and re-intensifying, although continuing to move west.

Cyclone Yasi IS coming to North Queensland

Cyclone Yasi is a monster cyclone, 800km across, and very well up there among the most intense ever in australia. Top of the list is Cyclone Monica of 2006 [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Monica] with a low pressure of 917hpa or 879hpa [ depends how calculations are done] while Cyclone Mahina of 1899 caused the most loss of life, and reputably the greatest storm surge.

Cyclone Yasi is expected to be around 920 - 930hpa at landfall, thought to be around Cairns, during tomorrow night local time. This extreme intensity, and large size elicit one response.................GO GO GO.

Many people are doing just that right now.

Cyclones are nasty creatures, especially at this size and intensity, and not be to trifled with.
There will be [ probably] major damage to houses, infrastructure but hopefully not lives.

See more at http://www.bom.gov.au/cyclone/ [ this will only be current for a short period]

Another Week, Still Raining

It is getting very monotonous........it is still raining!!

A very long monsoonal burst period, with rain on all but 3 days since about the 11th of December. That is over 40 days.

Yesterday was a bit of a tease, with little rain for a long part of the day, and high overcast and some sun for most of the hours of light. That was fortunate, as it was a funeral and wake for a friend of ours, so he had a great day for his send off. And some thoughts were developing by many people that finally, the rain was easing off.

But today, it is back into heavy overcast weather with some very strong monsoonal rain showers. Very typical monsoonal weather.

A few dry days would be nice, soon. Mr Weatherman pleeeease? Even the mould is developing a coating of mould!