Heavy rains on the way for Cairns but little chance of cyclones impacting the area
Cairns is in for a few days of heavy rain, strong winds and virtually zero chance of a cyclone impacting the area.
Despite media reports of "two cyclones" forming in the Far North over the coming week, the Bureau of Meteorology told TropicNow there is only a moderate chance of a low in the Gulf of Carpentaria developing into a tropical cyclone.
If it does form, the cyclone will most likely track south to south-west towards the Northern Territory coast and have no impact on the Cairns region.
The Bureau has also downgraded the possibility of a second cyclone forming in the Coral Sea.
In terms of rain, the combination of a monsoon surge in the north and a ridge of high pressure from the south will bring significant falls to the Cairns region over coming days.
Duty forecaster David Crock told TropicNow the wet season was "back with a vengeance" after a relatively dry run in recent years.
"For you guys on the tropical coast there’s been plenty of rain overnight and we're expecting a lot more rain over the next few days before it gradually moves north," he said.
"It took a while to get going but the wet is certainly here in vengeance now. From October to now there's been 1420mm of rain recorded at Cairns Airport and that's mostly been in the last 30 days or so.
"The long term average for the wet season in Cairns is 1760 mm which includes the full month of March, so you're already at 80% of the average. By the end of March you would expect to be close to the average, if not over it."
