Bureau of Meteorology records smashed in the Kimberley

Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jessica Lingard said November daily rainfall records were smashed right across the Kimberley region at more than 10 weather stations last week.

One of those was at Kachana station, Durack Range, with a whopping 367mm - four times more than the average monthly rainfall.

Kachana station owner Chris Henggeler said the property experienced 13 consecutive rainfall days, with 59mm being the most recorded in a 24 hour period.

Usually, the station's wettest months are February and March.

"We do get good rain out here, but this is something else and is quite out of the ordinary," Mr Henggeler said.

"Usually, if we record any rainfall in November it is about 50mm to 80mm for the whole month.

"The first 60mm was just drizzle with no runoff, which prepared the ground for the heavier rainfall it had later on."

Mr Henggeler said wet weather conditions had set the station up nicely, as vegetation was responding and water tables were full.

Even if the station was to have a month of no rain now, he said they would still be pretty well set-up.

"The main lightning dangers and fire risks from lightning strikes have reduced quite dramatically," he said.

"The challenge is to be rain ready, so when it does come you can hang onto as much as possible.

"Up until 10 days ago it was patchy, there were some areas of the property that didn't record much and others where creeks were up."

Another November record was broken at Fitzroy Crossing, which has already recorded 159mm - five times more than the 31mm monthly average.

Compared to last year, the weather station recorded just 42mm for the month with most falling in the first week.

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Ms Lingard said December to February were usually the three wettest months for Fitzroy Crossing.

"Of those, January is the wettest month with an average rainfall of 185.8mm," she said.

"Already Fitzroy has surpassed the December and February average and is 25mm shy of January's."

Given the high rainfall and rising flood levels, a minor flood warning was issued by the bureau for Fitzroy River last Friday.

Another warning earlier this week, reported the river at Fitzroy Crossing as peaking at 11.32 metres on Sunday into Monday.

On Tuesday it was at 9.60m and falling, with minor flooding.

Ms Lingard said it was "very unusual" to see flows that high through the river at this time of year, however, going by the number of records broken the two go 'hand-in-hand'

She said there were a number of weather drivers, which influenced tropical behaviour and had caused the high rainfall events.

"The first one is called the Madden-Julian Oscillation (MJO) - this is currently in the Australian region and helps enhance thunderstorm activity across northern parts of Australia.

"Then there is the Equatorial Rossby Wave, which moves around the globe and is a common feature of living near the equator.

"This one moves backwards, or east to west, when most - if not all - systems move west to east."

Ms Lingard said tropical forecasters were keeping a "very close eye" on where the MJO was around the globe as these drivers enhance tropical cyclone development.

She said Australia has never had a tropical cyclone season without a tropical cyclone forming.

"Last year, WA got off comparatively lightly with just a couple of systems (ex-Tropical Cyclone Tiffany and Tropical Cyclone Anika) moving through northern parts of the Kimberley," Ms Lingard said.

"But we didn't see the full force of a strong cyclone hitting the coastline.

"At this stage, most of WA - including the Kimberley - is looking at a below normal season for rainfall.

"Rainfall totals in the Kimberley and Pilbara are heavily dependent on tropical activity, so one cyclone or tropical low could change the drier than normal outlook quite quickly."