Queensland battles dry spring except in far north

Unseasonal wet and cool conditions in the state's far north are expected to continue throughout spring as the rest of the state battles dry conditions.The north spent September under a blanket of showers, with some areas recording up to six times their average monthly rainfall.The Bureau of Meteorology said a persistent ridge along the coast brought weeks of showers to the region which kept temperatures down and rainfall well above average for some places.Senior forecaster Felim Hannify said similar conditions would continue for the rest of the season.But from December, temperatures are expected to climb as the wet season gathers pace.Mr Hannify said sea surface temperatures along the Queensland coast were already above average and were expected to rise further over summer."Above-average sea temperatures mean the potential for increased rainfall," he said.Warmer ocean temperatures could also increase the risk of severe tropical cyclones forming, although they do not necessarily mean more cyclones overall.Mr Hannify said while El Niño typically brought drier conditions, warmer sea surface temperatures could dampen its influence on rainfall in the north.Rowan Donnacha Byrne, 6, playing with mud in a campsite in Far North Queensland following a wet few weeks. (ABC News: Conor Byrne)Slowing farming productionThe cool, wet conditions have slowed production and delayed flowering for some Far North Queensland growers.Atherton Tablelands farmer Michael Coulston, who grows bananas, avocados and custard apples, said the cooler weather had held back banana production and helped keep prices high."It's been unusually cold for this time of the year which has slowed down production of bananas and a few other crops," he said.He said avocado flowering was also running noticeably late."Normally by now you're looking at transitioning into daytime sprays, but we're pushing them out just because we're seeing more flowers holding onto the tree that we're just waiting to see what happens, whether they fruit or they just stay a flower," Mr Coulston said.Passionfruit flowering has been delayed near Innisfail due to wet and cool weather. (ABC Far North: Sophie Johnson)Innisfail grower Will Darveniza said wet conditions had slowed growth across his mixed horticulture farm, delaying passionfruit flowering and affecting pollination."September was pretty wet compared to previous years and that does a lot to hurt our pollination and flower set," he said.September weather matched recordsMr Hannify said the north-east and far north of the state recorded the most rain during September with "little or nothing" in parts of the south-east."[Far North Queensland] certainly bucked the trend compared to the rest of the state which endured well below average rainfall," he said."Some areas around the north-east tropical coast, particularly in Cairns and the Daintree and the wet tropics in general, saw well over three times their monthly average [rainfall] for September."Cairns Airport recorded just under 97 millimetres for the month; its average is 34mm. Innisfail received up to 300mm, nearly three times the monthly average.Kowanyama recorded nearly 15mm, close to six times its monthly average of just 2.4mm."It was just persistent shower activity … there was very little prolonged dry spells throughout that month, particularly along more coastal areas."Parts of Innisfail recorded up to three times the monthly rainfall average in September. (Supplied: Joseph Marano)Mr Hannify said the extensive shower activity brought on the cooler the temperatures."We saw some areas record their lowest mean maximum for September, going back for over 20 years as well," he said."Looking at Cairns Airport itself, 27.8 [degrees Celsius] was the was the actual official average maximum for the month of September, which was actually its coolest since 1994. Now the average is 28.2.""Mareeba recorded 26.7 [degrees Celsius], it was equal with its all-time [coolest average maximum temperature] record set back in 2006 as well."Mr Hannify said the cooler and wetter September in the north was in part driven by El Niño."It certainly may have [had] an impact on just the strength of that ridge and just the orientation of that ridge along the east coast as well," he said.