Tropical Cyclone Nathan lashes northern Australia

Tropical Cyclone (TC) Nathan continues to bring severe weather to the Top End of Northern Territory. The storm has been around for so long that it could justifiably become known as “Nathan the Ancient” if it hangs around much longer.

The storm formed on March 9 in the Coral Sea. Since then we’ve seen TC Olwyn causing extensive damage along the coast of Western Australia, and of course Severe TC Pam bring widespread devastation to Vanuatu.

Nathan is in the process of making landfall for the third time having already struck the Cape York Peninsula on Friday before clipping the far northeast of Northern Territory on Monday. It is now on the verge of arcing back round for another landfall just to the east of Darwin.

Having been around for two weeks, it goes without saying that Nathan’s most notable feature is that it has remained a very slow moving storm. By that token it means that it has brought a swathe of lingering heavy rain throughout its path.

Torrential downpours brought 109mm to Maningrida and 150mm in Milingimbi in the 24 hours to Tuesday morning. Nathan has now been downgraded to a tropical low, so the winds have eased.

The heavy rain however, will remain, and accumulations of around 100 to 150mm are likely over the next two days across the remote areas of Arnhem Land. The system should then drift offshore again and eventually fizzle out over the Timor Sea.