The long weekend will be perfect weather-wise in Katherine.
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Local parks and reserves are re-opening, as are biosecurity zones on Friday and for the first time in many years, there's no nomads taking up camping room.
Normal dry season conditions are forecast with top temperatures across the weekend of 32-33 degrees.
Nights will cool to 12-15 degrees, the Bureau of Meteorology expects.
With a record June rainfall of 11mm (for the whole month) way back in in 2007, there's none forecast as you would expect at this time of year.
It has been warmed than average in Katherine although the bureau has found the Territory as a whole had its first colder than average month for nearly a year in May.
Tindal had its coldest ever day on May 22 with a 20.9 degree maximum during a cold snap.
The average maximum for May is 32.3 degrees.
Averaged across the NT, the mean temperature was 1.1 °C below the long-term average.
This is the first time since August 2019 that the mean monthly temperature has been below average.
The monthly maximum and minimum temperatures were also cool at 1.1 °C and 1.0 °C below average, respectively.
The Top End of the Territory was the only district which had monthly temperatures above the long-term average in May.
A large proportion south of the Top End experienced mean maxium and minimum temperatures up to 2 °C below average during the month
Temperatures were particularly cool during 22 to 23 May when a cloud band, combined with a cool, dry southeasterly wind-flow affected the NT; many sites recorded their coldest May day (lowest maximum temperature) and/or their lowest May temperature on record during this 2-day period.
While May marks the start of the annual dry season (May to September) for the Northern Territory, much of the NT averages between 10 and 25 mm of rain during the month; in the far northeast, average rainfall during May can be as high as 100 mm.
Apart from some central districts, rainfall was average to below average during the month. Averaged across the NT, May rainfall was 48% below the long-term average, with totals of up to 25 mm reported across central districts, and over 25 mm around Arnhem Land.
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