Australia Weather News

Central West farmer Tom Tourle spent the night in the tractor, only pulling up at 2am after a last-ditch effort to get a crop in the ground.

Like many farmers across NSW, he had been anxiously waiting for rain after a dry start to 2026.

A bleak forecast for the region, with bare paddocks, high fuel and fertiliser costs and warnings of a "super El Niño", had led to record destocking numbers and some growers deciding it was too dry to sow their crops.

But Mr Tourle's gamble paid off.

Two significant, widespread rain events in the past fortnight have offered a last-minute lifeline to many farmers.

"I can't believe that it was only a couple of weeks ago that we were still destocking and getting ready for winter without too much of a prospect of rain in front of us," Mr Tourle said.

"All of a sudden, we've had 100 millimetres and it's looking like we might get a bit of a season."

With the forecast for rain strengthening, Mr Tourle made a spur of the moment decision to sow.

"We thought we'd better hook in and put in a few big days to make sure we got in as much as we could," he said.

"Thank goodness we did because I don't know when we'll get back onto paddocks … I think it might be a bit too boggy for a few weeks now.

"Just as we were doing the last couple of hectares it started to rain … so it was nice to put the rig away and go to bed with the sound of rain on the roof."

Bureau of Meterology forecaster Olenka Duma said there had been widespread falls of 20mm to 40mm across the North West Slopes and Central West, with more localised falls of around 60mm.

"In particular around Dubbo ... and Eumungerie which have seen some daily May rainfall records broken in the last 24 hours."

The gauge at the Eumungerie Post Office recorded 61mm yesterday, a record daily total for May.

It was a similar story at Dubbo, where a record 59.4mm fell over the same period.

Not out of the woods

Despite the rainfall, Mr Tourle was still taking a cautious approach heading into winter.

"I'm not going to say that we're out of the woods and the rest of the year is set, [but] at least now we do know we're going to grow a bit of grass and that's going to make it a whole lot cheaper carrying animals through the rest of the year," he said.

In the NSW Upper Hunter, sixth-generation cattle farmer Anto White is closely watching the rain forecast.

He is hoping the forecast for this week will start to turn the dial, but said the road to drought recovery was slow.

"You can't sell cattle immediately, the grass doesn't grow immediately … it certainly doesn't affect the bank balance, so it's a long old process," Mr White said.

This week Mr White sent his third double-decker truck of cattle to the saleyards, as he offloads stock from his Belltrees property to deal with the dry conditions 2026 has so far delivered.

"It's been a hot summer and the wind has been destructive more than anything," he said.

"Our dams are low, our creeks aren't running.

"I found that I was just getting back to normal [after the flash drought of 2023], I got my numbers up, very happy with my herd and then the blanket gets pulled from underneath you and you've got to start again."

Mr White said the cows he sold this week "owed him nothing".

"They've been so wonderful to me for 10 to 12 years so it is sad," he said.

"But they've got to go because I've got to pay for the feed, transport, there are bills to pay.

"The cow market is good, they're the ones that are going to sell well so they've got to go."

Mr White has put urea on 60 hectares of recently sown oats in the hope of rain.

Some still missing out

However, in other parts of the state that much-needed rain has not eventuated, despite being forecast.

Griffith grower Rodney Guest spent $50,000 sowing a crop in time for a predicted 30mm, only to receive nothing.

"It's very frustrating when they talk these forecasts right up and then at the last minute they pull it," he said.

"By that time, you've already spent the money putting the crop in the ground and then the rain doesn't eventuate."

Mr Guest said he was worried his crop would not survive without further rainfall.

"If it doesn't get the rain on it now, the seed might just shoot and then just sit there under the ground," he said.

"You really base your sowing depths on what amount of rain is predicted to fall."

Mr Guest said he would now limit the spend on his crop until he saw actual rain.

"You can't go on a good forecast, you need the actual rain and puddles."