Rainfall was well below average for most of the Territory away from the Queensland border, the Bureau of Meteorology has found in its annual climate statement.

Katherine township recorded slightly less than two thirds of its average annual rainfall.

Tindal RAAF base, near Katherine, had 54 days of 40 °C or above in 2019, easily exceeding the previous record of 20 set in 2013.

Tindal had never observed more than 10 consecutive days of 40 °C before 2019, but had a consecutive run of 16 such days in November and 15 in December.

Tindal also exceeded its previous highest temperature of 42.5 °C, recorded in 2006, a total of six times in 2019, peaking with a maximum temperature of 43.1 °C on December 6.

Records taken at the Katherine Civic Centre show the rain total for 2019 of 659.4mm was the lowest since 556.7mm was recorded in 1970.

Katherine's average, according to the council's records, is 967.8mm.

Averaged across the Territory, and throughout the year, the daytime temperature was the highest on record, the overnight temperature was the seventh-highest, the mean temperature was second-highest, and rainfall was second-lowest on record.

Nearly every individual month of the year had an above average mean temperature and below average rainfall.

Monsoon rainfall did not arrive util late January in the 2018-19 wet season and produced below average totals across the Northern Territory.

The Northern Territory's rainfall in 2019 was 50% below average and the second-lowest on record, behind only 1961; monthly rainfall was below average for all months except for May which was the only month with above average rainfall.

Most of the NT had annual rainfall in the lowest 10% of records, while large parts of the central and southern NT had their lowest rainfall ever recorded.

The monsoon onset date at Darwin for the 2018-19 wet season was January 23 (equal third-latest on record) which saw a dry start to the year; subsequent monsoon bursts were relatively weak over the NT and failed to generate widespread rainfall between February and April.

Monsoon onset was also late for the 2019-20 wet season was also late and failed to arrive before the end of 2019, further exacerbating the annual rainfall deficiencies.

Many sites across the NT had their lowest annual total rainfall on record or lowest for at least 20 years.

Despite the generally dry conditions, Cooinda Airstrip had its highest daily rainfall on record from an isolated thunderstorm in February, and Marqua, in the southern NT near the Queensland border, had a heavy rain event in March associated with ex-tropical cyclone Trevor.

More reading:

Wet season closures.

Overall, the Territory's mean temperature was 1.49 °C above average and the second-highest on record, behind 2013; the only month to have a below average mean temperature was August.

The mean daily maximum temperature in 2019 was the highest on record, at 1.96 °C above average.

The monthly mean maximum temperature was record warm during January and March, at more than three degrees above average, while in December it was more than four degrees above average and the highest mean maximum temperature ever recorded in the NT; four other months also ranked in the warmest ten

January had a mean maximum of 3.70 °C above the long-term average, nearly a full degree higher than the previous record in 2013. Many sites in the southern NT had record-breaking daily maximum (and minimum) temperatures and consecutive runs of high temperatures during January.

For the NT, December became the first month with the monthly mean maximum temperature more than 4.0 °C above the long-term average, since records commenced in 1910.

The highest temperature recorded in the Territory in 2019 was 47.9 °C, at Rabbit Flat on 25 December. This was the third-highest temperature ever recorded in the NT.

Total rainfall for Darwin Airport was 1076.4 mm, which is 62% of the long-term average of 1722.9 mm; this was the second-lowest since records commenced in 1941 and lowest annual rainfall since 1946.

The mean daily maximum temperature for Darwin Airport was 33.0 °C, which is 0.9 °C above the long-term average of 32.1 °C. The warmest day was 38.2 °C on 21 October (Darwin Airport's second warmest day on record), and the coolest day was on 4 June when the temperature reached 26.2 °C. Darwin Airport had a record number of days of 35 °C or above in 2019, with 45 (exceeding 2013's 29 such days), including a record run of 11 days in a row in December.

The mean daily minimum temperature for Darwin Airport was 23.2 °C, equal to the long-term average. The coldest morning was 12.7 °C on 25 June, and the warmest morning was on 27 Dec when the minimum temperature was 30.2 °C (the highest daily minimum ever recorded at Darwin Airport).

Two tropical cyclones affected the Northern Territory in 2019: TC Trevor, which made landfall near Port McArthur on 23 March, as a category 4 storm, and TC Wallace which reached cyclone strength on April 6, shortly before moving out of the NT region and into Western Australia's area of responsibility.

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