Unseasonal winter rain is on its way to the Far North.
The Bureau of Meteorology is warning of a 3,000 kilometre rain band, moving across the country this weekend.
The wet weather is expected to start in the northwest on Saturday before heading east towards Cairns and further south by Monday.
Cairns is expecting heavy rain on Monday with up to 40mm and possible thunderstorms.
Senior Forecaster Harry Clarke is urging locals to keep an eye on warnings in case conditions turn severe.
“We couldn’t rule out a thunderstorm warning or two, particularly on the Sunday and the Monday, so keep an eye on those.
“If you are travelling on roads, particularly dirt roads keep that in mind, that this rainfall will be coming through and may lead to some dangerous driving conditions,” he says.
“To get a rainfall band of this extent is relatively unusual, not unprecedented, but definitely is on the more unusual side of things.
“In regards to El Nino, we’re not in El Nino yet, we’re just at El Nino alert … that’s normally a dryer climate diver.
Clarke says it’s unlikely we will see large areas of flooding, especially like those seen in previous years.
