Who's had the worst wet season in the Territory - well we have

That record comes a day after almost breaking the March record, missing out by just 0.1 of a degree.

These records are more recent measurements taken at the Tindal RAAF Base from 1969.

Even more disappointing was that Katherine's wretched run with wet seasons continued with only 54.6 mm recorded for March, against an average of about 160mm.

The March rain total last year was 148mm, and that was also a poor wet but this has been worse.

Bureau of Meteorology charts show Katherine has fared worse than any other location in the Territory, including the Barkly.

Tindal recorded a maximum temperature of 39.2 degrees yesterday.

The previous record April temperature was 38.4 degrees on April 3, 2018.

The shaded area in the graph above is the rain Katherine generally gets each wet season.

Katherine reached 39.1 on Tuesday, which was 0.1 off the previous March record.

Across the Territory rain was below average in the north, and generally average to above average in the southern half of the NT in March.

Daytime and overnight temperatures were above average, but not dramatically so. The Top End and parts of the southwest were warmer than normal, but elsewhere temperatures were close to average.

February heatwave.

Wet season a fizzer.

November heatwave.

Smashing all records.

Most of the northern half of the Territory had average to below average rainfall during March; apart from the southwest, much of the southern half had above average falls, according to the Bureau of Meteorology.

The rainfall in the south was associated with the passage of ex-TC Esther across the central NT, early in the month; some sites near the path of Esther had their highest March daily rainfall on record as a result.

Territory-wide, rainfall was 28% below the long-term March average.

For the wet season to date (October 1 to 31 March 31), rainfall across the NT is 21% below the long-term average.

Some sites in the western Top End had their highest March temperature on record, while Rabbit Flat, in the Tanami District, had its coldest March day (lowest maximum temperature) on record, associated with heavy rain early in March.

Total rainfall for Darwin Airport was 270.8 mm, which is 86% of the long-term average of 314.2 mm.

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