Record rainfall has been reported in outback Queensland. Source: John Robert McPherson, Wikimedia Commons
Part of Queensland’s outback has seen record heavy rainfall over the weekend, with Mt Isa experiencing its wettest July day on record.
Mt Isa’s record of 110 millimetres of rain since 9am Sunday has nearly doubled its 1978 record of 62 millimetres in 24 hours.
The May Downs weather station near Mt Isa recorded 105 millimetres of falls on Sunday.
The Mt Isa State Emergency Service (SES) received eight calls for help over the weekend, mainly for leaking roofs.
Cloncurry, east of Mt Isa, recorded 65 millimetres since 9am on Sunday, coming close to breaking its July record of 82 millimetres.
Livio Regano from the Bureau of Meteorology said that its “not supposed to rain at this time of year.”
“Even Birdsville had 14mm, which might not seem a lot but in winter that’d be way more than their average for the month,” Mr Regano said.
This rainband is set to clear from north-west Queensland and continue over Charleville and Longreach on Sunday.
Mr Regano said that the upper low dragged lots of moisture from the Indian Ocean over Northern Australia.
“The upper trough’s stronger than usual, there’s more moisture than usual, and the oceans off the north-west coast are warmer than usual,” Mr Regano said.
“That’s what’s caused this huge amount of rain.”
The Mt Isa Bureau of Meteorology website went offline yesterday.
“We’re not really sure at this point what happened,” Mr Regano said.
