But the developing monsoon may provide some late wet season joy for Darwin at least.

It is not looking likely the weather system will have much impact on Katherine.

The Bureau of Meteorology today said the weather across the northern Top End is expected to pick up later this week, with a "moderate to high chance of squally showers and storms" for the northern Top End from Thursday.

Northern coastal areas of the NT, including Darwin may see rainfall totals between 50 and 150mm during the next week

"A tropical low is developing within the monsoon trough to the north of the Gulf of Carpentaria in the Arafura Sea, which is expected to track west, remaining well away from the NT coast early this week," a bureau spokeswoman said.

"There is only a low chance that the low will intensify into a tropical cyclone whilst in NT waters - there's a moderate chance the system will intensify to Tropical Cyclone strength north of WA sometime this weekend."

A marine wind warning is current for the Arafura Coast, and wind warnings will continue through this week as the system tracks west.

The bureau spokeswoman said this month was the hottest March on record for the NT since records began in 1910, with the NT-wide mean maximum 3.4°C above average, and the minimum temperatures 1.97°C above average.

Katherine recorded its hottest March in recorded history and, like the rest of the NT, was several degrees hotter than average for the month. 

Katherine's wet season is down by about a third but recovered in March with 148mm, just shy of the average 161.9mm).

The south west NT suffered most from the hotter than average temperatures, with Rabbit Flat reaching 39°C or more for a run of 115 days (beating the previous Australian record set at Marble Bar of 106 days back in 1921-22).

Several other NT sites had a record number of total and consecutive days above 40 °C, including Tennant Creek (5 consecutive, 9 total), Lajamanu (13 and 23) and Wulungurru (14 and 21).

The low rainfall and lack of widespread monsoonal conditions across the NT contributed to the very high temperatures experienced during the month.

Darwin recorded only about half of its usual March rainfall, Tindal was about average, and Alice Springs just 5% - Jervois recorded more than 5 times its average March rainfall, with a total of 176mm as a result of ex-Tropical Cyclone Trevor in just 36 hours.

The current wet season to date rainfall for Darwin Airport is 1014.2mm - that's 24mm short of the driest ever wet season (1038.2mm in 1991/92).

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