Big rain event to ease pain for Hunter, Mid-North Coast farmers

Some areas from Taree down to the Illawarra will record over 100mm of rain between Wednesday and Friday, Weatherzone forecasts.

Recently the Bureau of Meteorology said soil moisture levels in this part of NSW were so low, it was “one of the driest areas of Australia”.

The drought-stricken area of the Hunter, including the more severely affected Upper Hunter will also get a drenching – although whether larger falls will reach right up the valley is unclear.

There will be rain throughout much of NSW due to two low pressure troughs, one sitting off the NSW Central Coast and another inland.

The inland trough will bring showers to the northern western half with 15-30mm expected around Cobar, Bourke and Louth from showers and thunderstorms.

The big rain event will be from the mid-North Coast down to the Illawarra.

Weatherzone forecaster Brett Dutschke said there was a good chance of rain more than 100mm on the Mid-North Coast, south of the Manning River. “The heaviest falls will be from Wednesday to Friday. The eastern parts of the Hunter will pick up this as well. There is a chance of getting more than 100mm even in the Upper Hunter. Southern parts of the mid-North Coast and the Central Coast will also get more than 100mm.”

Some eastern parts of the Northern Tablelands may also pick up between 20-60mm, and there will also be significant falls in the eastern parts of the Central Tablelands.

Some areas of the Illawarra will see up to 80mm, Weatherzone said.

In the central-west there will be falls of around 10mm. The only regions to largely miss out will be the Riverina, the South-West Slopes and the Far South Coast.

Mr Dutschke said some areas around Gloucester and the Hunter had record low level soil moisture for this time of the year. “In a lot of places there has been a rainfall deficit of several 100mm in the past eight months.”