The gloomy predictions for a late start to the wet season have continued.
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Australia's dry climate has been driven by a positive Indian Ocean Dipole since late May.
The Bureau of Meteorology's long-range forecast issued today says the positive Indian Ocean Dipole is likely to continue.
It has surveyed other climate models which agree.
As is typical for the dry season, but after a poor wet season, it has not rained in Katherine for 170 days.
The positive dipole means below average rainfall is likely across the Northern Territory and northern Queensland from October-December.
As the bureau has stated in the recent past, the northern rainfall onset, the date when rainfall totals from September 1 reach 50mm, is predicted to be later than normal except for most of Western Australia.
The broader Indian Ocean patterns of sea surface temperature, cloud, and wind have resembled a positive Indian Ocean Dipole are the dominant factor, the bureau says.