Darwin is smack bang in the middle of its dry season, averaging just 4.5mm of rain during all of August. So, it was a bit of a shock for locals, and gardens, when 19mm of rain hit the ground last night.

A surge of southeasterly winds interacting with moisture-laden tropical air triggered showers and storms across the western Top End on Tuesday afternoon.

After a few storms skirted around the city in the afternoon, the heavens opened over Darwin just after 9pm and it kept raining until around 1am.

Image: One of Tuesday afternoon's storms to the south of Darwin. This one ended up missing the city. Source: @wonderlifephotography176 / Instagram

Under the cover of darkness, Darwin picked up 19mm of rain overnight. This was the city’s highest daily total since April and its best August rain since 1988.

Darwin’s highest August daily total on record was 80mm in 1947.