Cooler weather is on its way to the Top End, says the Bureau of Meteorology.
It's welcome news for many Territorians who have been copping some unseasonably hot, rainy and sticky weather to start the dry season.
However, over the longer term, forecasters say temperatures and rainfall are likely to remain higher than usual across the north of Australia.
Here's what's happening and why.
Proper dry season weather is coming
The Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) says a cool and dry south-east surge will move into the Top End from Wednesday — bringing with it Darwin's first night below 20-degrees since September last year.
The BOM expects the cooler weather to hang around until at least the end of the long weekend.
"If anybody's going camping inland, it will be nice cool overnight, and during the day as well," BOM senior forecaster Sally Cutter said.
The same weather system has already seen temperatures in Central Australia plunge, with minimum temperatures dropping over 10-degrees in some spots.
The Katherine area is also expected to see a big dip in daily minimum temperatures.
"Overnight minimums around Katherine [could be] getting down to the low or high single figures," Ms Cutter said.
"[Higher] in Top End will be in the teens as minimum [temperatures]."
The BOM is predicting maximum temperatures in Katherine to be slightly below average, at around 29-degrees, when the cooler spell begins.
And in Darwin, those maximum temperatures are expected to sit around the 31 to 32-degree mark — a few degrees cooler than recent maximum of around 34-degrees.
Where has the dry weather been?
On Monday the Bureau of Meteorology said much of the north was 2 to 3 degrees above average for May.
According to Ms Cutter, the warmer-than-usual conditions are due to the lack of high-pressure systems that typically bring cool, dry air from the southern ocean across the continent up into the Top End.
"It's mainly been the lack of these events that have led to those really humid conditions, because there's been nothing to flush that moisture out," she said.
"We've also got warmer sea surface temperatures around the Top End as well, which is helping to keep those minimums [high] particularly overnight."
Persistent cloud cover this dry season and large downpours across some parts of the Top End last week had mystified some awaiting a proper dry spell.
Ms Cutter, however, said such weather was not that unusual around this time of year.
"We do quite often see these downpour events in the dry season," she said.
"What's happened is we've just had that deep moisture build-up which has allowed those storms to occur.
"And that's been right through the records. There'll be these occasional big dumps of rain through and around Darwin. It's mainly the coastal areas that get them because you need that humidity that's been brought in by the sea breezes."
Warmer weather expected to return
While the Top End is set for its first major dry spell, forecasters are predicting a hotter and wetter than usual next three to four months across the region.
"Unfortunately, we're looking at a good chance of having above average maximums and minimums right across the Top End [for the rest of the dry season]," Ms Cutter said.
Andrew King, a climate scientist at the University of Melbourne, said the Northern Territory's climate outlook follows a general pattern of warmer weather.
"We are seeing a warming trend of northern Australia in the dry season, and this seasonal outlook fits with that," he said.
Above average rainfall expected this dry season
According to the most recent BOM climate outlook, released earlier this month, the following weather trends have been predicted between June and August:
- Maximum temperatures are likely to be above median for the northern tropics
- There is an increased chance of unusually high maximum temperatures for June to August over the northern tropics
- There is an increased chance of unusually low maximum temperatures across the south of the Northern Territory
- There is an increased chance of unusually high minimum temperatures for June to August across almost all of Australia — with the highest chance being across the northern tropics
The BOM is also predicting the Top End will exceed its median rainfall during the dry season.
"But the average rainfall for this time of year is very low, so we don't have to get much to get above the average," Ms Cutter said.
