Cyclone Jasper: how did it cause so much rain and could global heating be to blame?

Experts say it was not the intensity of the cyclone that has made Jasper stand out, but its slow speed and the incredible amount of rain it generated. Photograph: Liv Cole

On 5 December a system of storms and low pressure converged around Solomon Islands to form the first tropical cyclone of the season for Australia, making landfall just north of Port Douglas on 13 December.

Cyclone Jasper hit the coast as a category two cyclone but it took the system almost five days to move west across Queensland. It left havoc in its wake, with many areas recording more than a metre of rain.