THE 2010 wet season kicked off almost on cue with Cyclone Olga sweeping in from the Coral Sea, crossing the coast just north of Cairns and weakening into a low pressure system.
Shedding hundreds of millimetres of rain along the way, the influence predictably crossed Cape York, entered the Gulf of Carpentaria and reformed into a cyclone before turning back and crossing back into Queensland just south of Karumba.
After dumping enough rain to isolate the Normanton and Karumba communities for a couple of weeks, the influence became a great irrigator - Olga the Irrigator - as it moved down through the centre of Queensland, dragging the monsoon trough with it.
The eastern seaboard received the lion's share of the rain with falls of 400 millimetres-plus recorded from Cairns south.
Townsville received 460mm and Mackay 450mm. Inland, the "irrigator" dropped 100mm-plus on a swathe of country hundreds of kilometres across from the Gulf to NSW, where in some areas it broke a 10-year drought.
Richmond and Julia Creek district received 100-120mm but Cloncurry just 37mm and Mt Isa missed out.
Muttaburra, Barcaldine, and Longreach received 90-120mm but the rain petered out about 80km west of Longreach.
Roma saleyards recorded 150mm and 175mm with strong wind gusts was reported at Charleville.
A Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) spokesman said it was possible water would reach Lake Eyre for the second year in a row, which he said he could not remember ever happening.
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