Topic: 2009 Darwin / Northern Territory Storm Season?

[Antonio (stormboy)]

OK so when exactly does the thunderstorm season kick off for Darwin? Is it soon? Having a Darwin trip this November maybe I will be lucky with those storms.

Storm boy – preparing the camera for the season ahead ;-)

[Antonio (stormboy)]

Ahh I think maybe this is my answer.

http://www.darwinstorms.com/climate/

Thunderstorms are the most common feature meteorologically speaking from late October to March.  The region experiences the highest amount of thunder days in the country,  often peaking well above  100 per year.
Maybe Mike can confirm this statement since he lives there.

Storm boy – preparing the camera for the season ahead ;-)

[Mike]

Yes, from mid October onwards.  If i had a dollar for every time someone asked me when is the best time for storms in Darwin I'd ne a rich man.  They are sporadic but widespread and hard to chase (Nick Moir will attest to this!) 

We've already had one storm inland at Labelle Station about 100km from Darwin.  Usually that location fires up early and frequently and it dumped a nice bit of precip Monday arvo at 3:15pm.  Only lasted about 20 mins, but radar showed a nice splitting cell.  From what I could see of it it was low capped but had nice structure, alas a small anvil as a dry layer prevented any real 'lift' to finish the storms appearance.

Certainly caught my attention and a few others also...it was due to a heat low extending into the NT NW of us and a healthy NW flow.  Temps were about 34c out there and DP's up to 21C, so there was plenty of energy earlier on for it.

But yes, October 1 is the official wet season date...they predict a very hot build up period thanks to el Nino...just what I want...all heat and not wet stuff...not.

[Antonio (stormboy)]

Sounds great ;-) hope it is not too dry for you up there. Hopefully thunderstorms will fire up here good this year.

Storm boy – preparing the camera for the season ahead ;-)