ARMATREE croppers must be bemoaning the weather after flat, low-lying areas were inundated by the past two weeks’ rain.
IMAG agronomist dealing with Armatree Glenn Shepherd said most late sown crops could be in trouble.
"There's a lot of water lying around, so anything sown in the back end of May or early June could be in a far bit of trouble."
He said it was late in the season, and considering it could be three weeks to a month before anyone could get back on their paddocks, re-sowing could be unrealistic.
"I was heading out there last week, but then it started to rain again, so it could be the middle of next week before we have a firm idea of how things are.
"I'd be concerned about chickpeas, because they don't like wet feet anyway, but it all depends on how long the water sits in the paddock.
"It's so flat in some of those areas that once the soil profile is full there is just nowhere for it to go.
"You'd bog a duck out there at the moment and it's no point ripping up someone's paddock to tell them it's wet.
Ben Murrells at the Central Hotel, Ungarie, said a clutch of people had been evacuated to West Wyalong after the Humbug Creek broke its banks.
Previously the creek had swelled to similar proportions in 2011 and 2012, he said.
Bland Shire Council, covering West Wyalong and Ungarie, said several roads would remain closed to all traffic until at least tomorrow ((Friday)) and urged people to evacuate areas of Ungarie lest they become trapped.
Bland Shire Council community relations officer Craig Sutton said schools were closed at Ungarie and he was not sure when they would re-open because "there's a lot of water laying around".
He said two streets had been evacuated and another dozen were under evacuation watch orders.
On Tuesday afternoon he said: "We think the creek will peak late this afternoon or tonight and then we can take stock.
"It's not raining now and we haven't had any real downpours since Sunday night.
"It just all happened really quick, we had a couple of inches of rain (50mm-plus) in about six hours.
"It was just relentless and with dams already full, well that's just what happens out here," he said.
Bureau of Meteorology NSW forecaster Gabrielle Woodhouse said a cold front would sweep across the state on Thursday night and Friday, likely causing widespread snow events down to 800 or 1000 metres.
She said there would be snow in the Snowy Mountains, the central tablelands and possibly even the southern parts of the northern tablelands on Friday.
Oberon, Blayney and Orange would probably experience snow.
"Then it will get really cold on Saturday.
"So far we've been having reasonably warm temperatures for June, so hopefully there will be a dumping of snow.
"I think the resorts would be very thankful for some snow, rain has washed away much of the snow we've had already," she said.
"Areas on the Monaro, such as Cooma, could experience highs of -1 or -2 degrees Celsius on Saturday and lows of perhaps -6 or -7 degrees."
Agronomist Bob Freebairn, based at Coonabarabran, said most parts of the state were now fixed for moisture.
"There could even be a few places where it's gone full circle and it might be too wet to get on paddocks and they need a bit of dry weather before they can get back on if they haven't already sown.
"I think everybody's pretty happy, even though at this time of year it doesn't mean an oasis, because it's a bit slow to get going in the winter."
Forbes-based agronomist for IMAG Cameron Corke said a combination of the two recent rain events meant it could be tough going for some late-sown crops, be they chickpea, barley or pasture.
"No-one's that upset at the moment, but more rain could cause some dramas, I think it will be okay," he said.
"I've measured 60mm since Friday, but there are other reports nearby of 100mm, so it's really wet.
"West of Forbes, most areas had about 50mm."
Reports flowing in from Lockhart suggested some low-lying properties had been innundated and there was a lot of water lying about in paddocks and most dams were full.
Trying to find a strip dry enough to land planes on was the biggest immediate problem, and that was hindering some urgent spray jobs, particularly on canola crops.
On Monday small creeks in the area had broken their banks, but waters were subsiding with a break in the rain on Tuesday.
Lockhart Delta Ag agronomist Elissa Strong said the recent rains generally marked a good start.
"Everything's okay at the moment, there are small areas that might need to be re-sown but any crop that is already up is handling it so far.
"We don't want too much more, another inch or so and a few low-lying areas might go under, but so far we're okay," she said.