Tamworth weather: New England North West not even close to half its annual rainfall

In some places, such as Tamworth, it’s been a consistent drizzle, with more than 10mm falling on the city in the 24 hours to 3pm on Friday. This was on top of patchy falls during the week.

Other places received up to twice as much, such as Gunnedah with 18mm and Armidale with 25mm.

It’s hoped those numbers will grow, with the Bureau of Meteorology predicting scattered showers on Saturday.

Armitage and Buckley managing director and livestock selling agent Victor Moar told The Leader it went without saying that all rain was welcome, but the region was still well below it’s annual rainfall.

“This season in a lot of areas around here has been the toughest in living memory,” Mr Moar said.

“We’ve had rain just these last four or five days – and good rain, people have had anywhere from 1.5 inches to probably 2 inches – but we’re still a long way behind getting our average.

“Armidale has a 32-inch rainfall average and a lot of people, up till this rain, had 5 inches for the year and what are we in, the ninth month? 

“It’s got to rain a lot to get to even halfway to our average, and how often does that happen?”

Breeza farmer John Hamperson said so far the moisture had only gone down about an inch in to the soil.

“So it hasn’t opened up any windows for us,” he said,

“We’ve only had about 111mm this year. The annual average is 624mm, so by now we should be sitting at around 450mm, so there is still a long way to go.

“We’d need about 75mm before the end of the month to get a summer crop in with any confidence.”

The rain will also give the region’s dams a small boost. Keepit Dam is at 11 per cent and rising, while Split Rock Dam is at 14 per cent and steady.

Copeton Dam is at 24 per cent and falling, and Chaffey Dam is at 53 per cent and falling.