Rainfall level plummets a year on from Jasper

WEATHER WATCH

Shaun Hollis

Journalist

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There has been a lot more sunshine over Port Douglas’s Four Mile Beach so far this summer compared to last season. Picture: Shaun Hollis

The amount of rain that fell at a coastal weather station south of Port Douglas last month was about three times less than what was recorded for the same time the year before.

The Bureau of Meteorology’s White Cliff Point station near Wangetti recorded about 540mm in December, down from more than 1600mm in the final month of 2023.

The Whyanbeel Valley station just north of Mossman recorded close to 600mm last December, down from more than 2100mm for the same period the year before.

As every Douglas Shire local will be able to tell you, December 2023 was an unusual rainfall month after Cyclone Jasper hit halfway through, followed by an extended time of non-stop rain.

At the same time, the December 2024 rainfall level for the entire Cape York region was below the yearly average.

But the rain gauges have been filling up more in the past few days across the district.

So far this year, as of Tuesday, January 7, the Whyanbeel station has recorded about 80mm, with the biggest single day being close to 60mm on Sunday (January 5), while White Cliff has recorded 95mm, with 74mm of that falling on Saturday (January 4).

The Port Douglas/Mossman region has been faring better than areas further up the coast, with Douglas Shire Council this morning issuing a warning about flash flooding on roads north of the Daintree River through to Wujal Wujal following heavy rains there.

The seven-day forecast for Port Douglas this week is for showers until Thursday, followed by a partly cloudy weekend.

However, the BOM long-range forecast predicts that there is a 60-80 per cent chance of above-average rainfall across large parts of Queensland for the January-to-March period.

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