Heavy rain brings drought relief to NSW

Widespread rainfall has fallen across New South Wales in the last 24 hours, bringing much needed relief across drought affected regions with some places seeing their best falls in over two years.

A moisture-laden trough has triggered rain areas and thunderstorms across the state since Wednesday afternoon, and has been steadily progressing east, collecting moisture along the way, with heavy falls occurring by the time it reached the coast.

Central-eastern parts of the state collected the heaviest falls, with widespread totals of 20-to-50mm, although some areas saw up to 80mm. In the Sydney Basin, Holsworthy saw the best rain in more than two years, registering 43mm, whilst Horsley Park's 59mm was its best rain in 19 months.

Inland areas also saw significant totals, although they were more patchy than coastal areas. Dubbo recorded 45mm to 9am, its best rain in a year and a half, whilst Forbes had its best rain in a little over a year, registering 26mm.

After the country's driest September on record the rain has been welcome with open arms, although it is hardly drought breaking. However, there are promising signs of follow-up rain across the next two weeks for both inland and coastal areas.

Image 1: NSW Rainfall Accumulation Totals - October 5th, 2018