A vast rainband crossing eastern Australia has delivered widespread heavy rain, heaviest in northern and central Victoria, with Bendigo receiving 49.2 mm, its wettest June day since 1898.

The rainband stretches all the way from Queensland to Tasmania. Other rainfall totals of note from this system in the 24 hours to 9 am Tuesday included:

VIC

67.2 mm at  Specimen Hill Reservoir on Bendigo’s western outskirts, the highest reading in Victoria (and indeed anywhere in Australia).

Falls between 50 mm and 60 mm recorded at five other locations across northern and central parts of the state.

NSW

42.2 mm at Boullia, a sheep station in the state’s far northwestern corner – an unusual location for the highest NSW daily rainfall total in any season.

29 mm at Wamberra Station in the far southwest of the state, illustrating how this system has brought widespread rainfall across western NSW.

QLD

38 mm at Nockatunga, a cattle station in far southwest Qld.

Falls of more than 25 mm at no fewer than 10 other locations in the state’s southwest and far west.

SA

Numerous handy falls in the 10-20 mm range in eastern SA, from the North East Pastoral forecast district all the way down to the Lower South East

TAS

Falls between about 25 mm and 45 mm at multiple locations in Tasmania’s northwest.

Why such heavy rain overnight?

This is a system with tropical origins, as a moisture-laden air feed pours southwards, fuelled by warm waters off northern and eastern Australia.

While heavy rain has fallen across a wide area and some places might feel chilly due to cloud cover and the short midwinter days, the airmass itself is relatively mild for June – although that will change by Friday as a strong cold front whips across the southeast.

Rain continues during Tuesday with mild temperatures on the east coast

Image: Combined radar and satellite image for Australia at 11 am (AEST) on Tuesday, June 30, 2026, showing the rainband crossing NSW, Vic and Tas. Source: Weatherzone.

Rain will continue this Tuesday as the main rainband tracks eastwards. It will tend to run out of steam to an extent as it crosses the Great Dividing Range, delivering generally lighter falls to the east coast than to inland areas.

Particularly heavy falls can be expected in the alpine region later this Tuesday, with totals in the 50 to 100 mm range possible.

Mild temperatures are on the forecast for the east coast due to the northerly aspect of winds associated with this system.

For example, Sydney is expected to kick off July with maximums of 22°C on Wednesday and 23°C on Thursday. The average July maximum (in what is statistically the city’s coldest month) is 16.5°C.