Northern Rivers cops heavy rainfall

While most of the nation remained dry today, the Northern Rivers region in NSW received heavy rainfall. The town of Yamba is the wettest location in Australia so far today with 31.6mm of rain recorded as of 4:30pm. As seen in the radar loop below, a band of rain formed over the town at approximately 1:00pm today and has persisted for most of the afternoon.

Ballina, NSW has already exceeded the average rainfall for the entire month
Image: Radar and satellite loop over the Northern Rivers, NSW for the four hours to 4:00pm AEST on Saturday, 15 August 2026. Source: Weatherzone 

Other towns in the Northern Rivers have recorded significant rainfall to 4:30pm today including:

20.6mm at Ballina Airport

17.2mm in Evans Head

Including today’s rainfall, the month-to-date total at Ballina Airport is 89mm, which is impressive considering that the average for the entire month of August is 88.3mm.