Ex cyclone to bring rain for central Australia

Drought-stricken parts of central Australia can expect welcome rain with ex cyclone Ann moving out of Queensland.

The weather system brought up to 63mm of rain in parts of Far Northern Queensland but the severe weather warning has been cancelled. Flood alerts have been issued from Port Douglas all the way up the coast.

From today the rain will ease as the weather system moves west into the Northern Territory’s Top End.

By the weekend it will filter south, bringing unseasonly damp conditions to a large area, stretching down to coastal South Australia.

Darwin will see 10mm of rain but other parts of the Northern Territory will receive up to 20mm.

Inland areas including Alice Springs are set for falls of up to 50mm.

This amount of rain is rare during the Top End’s dry season and more typical of January and February.

The weather system is forecast to merge with cold front from the south west over the weekend that has brought chilly temperatures to Western Australia.

That will produce widespread rain and storms across South Australia.