![The land has already taken its fair share of soaking this October. Picture by Peter Hardin The land has already taken its fair share of soaking this October. Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/177678904/62d07cae-c5d2-486d-bde5-725c27d8b8cb.jpg/r0_0_7360_4907_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
Just a third of the way through October, and the monthly rainfall average has been surpassed with La Nina peaking.
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Rainfall last weekend totalled 52.6mm, taking the month's measure past its average of 55.2mm, to reach 58.4mm as of October 10.
Gunnedah has also gone well past its October average of 46.9mm, surging to 58mm.
However, according to local weather expert Dave Farrenden, we should now have some respite from the wet despite another front on the way.
"This next front doesn't look too bad," he said.
"We might just see an isolated total of up to maybe 20mm."
Yet Mr Farrenden was sure to add that weather can be a fickle thing.
"It does look like we're going to see another upper low form [but] it just depends on where it's going to go," he said.
"We are starting to see it come into models now, but it won't be until about mid next week, so we are going to have a little bit of a reprieve.
"It's just going to prime those rivers up a little bit."
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One of the reasons for the apparent easing of the weather is we've now reached the peak of La Nina, according to Mr Farrenden.
"I thought maybe it would be the middle of the month, but because we got that intense rainfall last week[end] I think we're seeing the peak now," he said.
"And hopefully, things start to taper off a little bit as there's been a lot of flooding going on."
As La Nina peaks go, he also said this one isn't particularly concerning.
"La Nina isn't really going to peak ... it's not going to be a very strong one," he said.
Nonetheless, he said we should still expect consistent rains before La Nina flips into El Nino.
"There's still a fair bit of moisture coming from the Indian Ocean," he said.
"And when the cold fronts come through they just pick up all this moisture."
According to Mr Farrenden, the transition into a drier climate will be a steady one, which might only come to fruition by the end of next year.
"We will still see some rain because the La Nina will still be active," he said.
But once we get through the year I think we'll start seeing the climate indictors go into neutral," he said.
"I think by the end of next year ... we could start seeing it go into the drier trend."
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