Farmers have been buying millet seed with predictions of solid general rain through central New South Wales from Queensland down to the Victorian border on the weekend.
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At this stage between 10-30mm is forecast in many areas of central NSW, parts of the Southern and Central Tablelands, with higher falls possible with local storms. Heavier falls are expected in the Riverina and South-West Slopes. There may be also pockets of solid rain on the NSW-Queensland border, in the far western areas.
A fortuitous meeting of three weather phenomena is powering the rain event, with a trough extending down from Queensland, that has already brought significant rain to central Queensland, meeting up with a cold front on the weekend, and fed by moisture pulled down from the Coral Sea.
The rain talk has been strong and already some farmers are buying seed on the back of the news, according to agronomist Michael White, of Michael White and Co (CRT), Wellington.
The biggest demand has been for millet, Jap millet and Shirohie millet and cowpeas. But he said farmers were not eager to gamble on too much rain by buying into sorghum seed as of yet.
"Anything around 20mm will make a big difference,' he said. Most of the few crops in the Central-West had either been cut for hay or eaten off, so any new forage or hay crops would be a big bonus. Mr White said there had been a "massive exit" of stock on many farms in the Central-West in the last two months due to the devastating drought. "We urgently need water to fill dams," he said.
Weatherzone forecaster Graeme Brittain said it was quite possible there would be higher totals with local storms in the weather event. He said the system was slow-moving which was a benefit for higher rain totals.
At this stage, models say areas around Wagga Wagga, may get up to 40mm. Unfortunately the hard-hit areas on the North-West Slopes and Northern Tablelands will not pick up much rain.
