It's rain worth jumping for throughout much of central and northern NSW with some of the hardest drought-hit places such as Yeoval in the central-west and Moree in the north-west getting 50mm downpours.
The totals are still growing and the rain system shows no end of sight, with bursts of storms expected until at least Monday, where the south and south-east was expected to get good rain.
The rain has been fickle, but astonishing in parts. At Bundarra in the Northern Tablelands they have lifted Level 5 water restrictions to no restrictions after their water supply dam filled. The rain there showed how fickle it could be with 44mm at the council yards, but reports of 60-80mm in many parts around the town.
Also the central-west has seen fickle falls, with some areas jumping in rain and places like Dubbo, so far, recording little more than 4mm.
At Yeoval, Ag'n'Vet branch manager Guy Wailes said the district was delighted with more than 50mm recorded on properties around the badly drought-hit district. Already Mr Wailes was fielding inquiries for seed, including canola (hyola 970) and oats from farmers wanting to get into their paddocks in February.
He said though the storm was violent late yesterday and knocked down fences and damaged topsoils in flashflooding.
His own two new water tanks north of the town filled to half. "Dams are full again and it's certainly given some hope," he said.
"First there was a terrific duststorm and I couldn't see to the other side of the road, and then it went 'bang', with heavy rain for an hour." The town was expecting another big storm on Friday.
"We have already had some good inquiries for fertiliser and seed. We just wish the weather gods had turned down the heavy rain a few notches."
In the area, Wellington had over 60mm in some areas, Narromine had 28mm and Nyngan had just 4mm as did Dubbo.
Other good falls included 36mm at Parkes, 35mm at Cowra, 26mm at Caroona, and in the north 84mm at Krui Plains, 28mm at Narrabri, 30mm at Warialda, 35mm at Inverell, 38mm at Tambar Springs, 20mm at Armidale. The Northern Tablelands has already had top falls in the last week.
The North Coast has also had top falls with over 100mm recorded at Buladelah alone. Coastal rivers are now running again including the Macleay River. Heavy rain is expected again in the coming days there.
There were some good falls in the Far West on Wednesday but it was limited. (In southern Queensland there has been good falls too with Thargomindah recording 25mm, and rain at Quilpie.)
At Broken Hill there were falls of over 30mm on some stations. Grazier Lachlan Gall had a good dump into his home water tank supply, but little elsewhere.
"We received 4.2mm at Langawirra, nothing at Coogee Lake," he said. "There was a small microburst right over the catchment for Coronation Tank that put ten feet in the pictured dam, and we're pumping that water ten kilometres back to the Langawirra House.
"The dam wasn't dry, it had 15 feet of water in it, now up to 25 feet deep. If it's full it is 35 feet deep and 35,000 cubic yards of water.
"For those that did receive a big rain it's a double edged sword. Due to the isolated nature of the falls it is inevitable that areas where pastures get a start will be inundated by kangaroos from all directions, and in any case significant follow-up rain will be required to maximise grass growing potential. Meanwhile, blowing dust and drifting sand again yesterday isn't helping - but those people that have missed out will be feeling very disappointed right about now.
"Essentially, only about five per cent of properties in the far west recorded a big fall, and even then not over entire properties - thunderstorm rain generally falls in narrow strips. 95% of locations received very little, or nothing at all."
The hope is those that have missed out will get some rain in the next four days of the rain event. It has also rained on many firegrounds, giving a glimmer of hope to firefighters fighting the biggest fires in known history.