A TROPICAL low is forming in the monsoonal trough but is not expected to be a cyclone threat in the short term.
Bureau of Meteorology senior weather forecaster Rebecca Patrick said the low was slowly forming over land to the west of Borroloola.
“As it’s still quite weak, there’s uncertainty in the short-term movements but we’re keeping an eye on that,” she said.
“While it stays over land it won’t form into a cyclone; at this stage we’re expecting it to track westwards over the Top End.”
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READ NOWBOM’s tropical cyclone outlook has listed the likelihood of a cyclone forming in the region over the next three days as low.
“Although it is most likely that the low will remain over land for the next few days, if it does move over water there is a low chance of it intensifying over the southern Gulf of Carpentaria on Monday or Tuesday,” the outlook report states.
Ms Patrick said if the low continued to move westwards and the wind turned to a north-westerly direction, increased rainfall would soak the Darwin region.
“We could see daily totals of around 200mm of rain in isolated locations as we’ve seen over the last 24 hours,” Ms Patrick said. Many regions in the eastern Top End experienced large amounts of rainfall during the weekend.
In the Gulf of Carpentaria, Bing Bong recorded 209mm of rain in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday and 167mm fell at Centre Island.
Ms Patrick said a severe weather warning had been issued for the Tiwi and parts of Arnhem and Carpentaria districts.
“We’re seeing quite vigorous monsoonal showers in the Arafura Sea, which is bringing showers to the Top End,” she said.
The severe weather warning was in place for the Tiwi Islands, eastern Carpentaria District and coastal parts of the Arnhem District, including Groote Eylandt.
Locations that may be affected include Nhulunbuy, Borroloola, Maningrida, Wurrumiyanga, Milingimbi and Alyangula.
Darwin reached a top of 29.5C yesterday, with cooler-than-average temperatures expected for most of the week.
Central Australia is expected to remain hot, with maximum temperatures to reach the 40s for most of the week.