Australia gets a drenching just weeks on from record heat

Monday, 9 February 2026 15:52

Arkaroola in South Australia received 40 per cent of its annual rainfall in just one day.

Sweeping showers have soaked parts of every state and territory, mere weeks after record-high temperatures and destructive bushfires gripped parts of the country.

A "vast northwest cloudband" fed by moisture from the Indian Ocean has stretched from Western Australia across the country, bringing heavy rain as far as Tasmania.

Arkaroola in SA's northern Flinders Ranges received 40 per cent of its annual rainfall in just one day, after it was drenched with 100.6mm in the 24 hours to 9am yesterday, Weatherzone said.

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Rainfall was recorded across the country yesterday.

Dubbo in the NSW's Central West was lashed with 39mm, a welcome drenching after drier-than-average conditions had left the area parched since October last year.

Most of Victoria received some rain yesterday, but the central part of the state copped the brunt of the cloud band, with 25mm recorded in at least 10 locations.

Victoria's highest rainfall total was logged in Mena Park, near Ballarat, where 37mm fell in the 24 hours to 9am today.

Birdsville in far south-west Queensland received 29mm in one day, which was more than the town has had in any month since last Autumn.

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In the Northern Territory, typically-arid Alice Springs has posted five days with record-rainfall, where 66mm of rain soaked nearby Upper Bond Springs in the 24 hours to 9am today.

The highest rainfall totals in Western Australia were recorded in the Pilbara, where Tropical Cyclone Mitchell is expected to cross the coast in the coming hours.

The moisture from the Indian Ocean has spread all the way to Tasmania, where most of the state received a light smattering of rain.

Showers and thunderstorms are expected to continue across most of the country in the coming days as they trend north.

The rain is unlikely to reach bushfire-stricken parts of South Australia and Victoria this week.

The wet weather system comes just over a week after south-eastern Australia sweltered in record temperatures.

Temperatures in the South Australian towns of Indamooka and Port Augusta reached 50 degrees, while temperatures in Victoria soared to their highest on record, with the mercury reaching 48.9 degrees in Hopetoun and Walpeup.

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