Relief has arrived for the Top End and Central Australia after weeks of unseasonably hot weather conditions. Territorians have sweltered through weeks of above-average temperatures with fears the heavy rains might never come. But while this week's weather has all the hallmarks of a monsoon, experts say it's still missing some key ingredients.
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00:00At long last, relief in the Red Centre from searing heatwave conditions.
00:07Lots of people have been talking about how less grumpy they are and how it just lightens everything up. It feels really lovely.
00:16Cooling rains to end a stifling month in Alice Springs, which started with maximum temperatures up to 8 degrees above average.
00:24At one point the temperature at the airport topped 44.5 degrees, the hottest March day since records began.
00:31Relief. It's very good. It's like cooling me down.
00:35Respite too in the top end, as Darwin's wet season finally delivers.
00:41I don't consider it late really. We haven't had the amount of rain during the day that I've experienced over my 60 years here.
00:50It doesn't matter when it happens. I just love the rain.
00:54But while the soothing breeze from the west and relentless rainfall might be giving monsoonal green flags...
01:01We've got the weather. Most people would say the weather's coming in from the west. It feels monsoonal.
01:06According to the Bureau, there are still some meteorological milestones this system needs to pass before the all-important declaration.
01:14We have to have those westerlies up to a certain depth, reaching a certain speed.
01:18And then we've also got to have the winds aloft heading back from the south-east into the northern hemisphere.
01:25Definitions aside, the respite rolls on, up and down the Northern Territory.