Welcome rain for dry parts of northern NSW, southern Qld

Significant rainfall has dampened parts of northern New South Wales and southern Queensland that have experienced rainfall deficiencies over the first four months of the year, some of which are severe.

Unfortunately for locals desperately scanning the skies for soaking rain, the falls have not been consistent across the affected area. However, notable 24-hour totals over the past two days included:

24 hours to 9am Tuesday, May 5

26.2mm at Gunnedah, where not a drop of rain was recorded in the previous 38 days, and only 17.4mm fell from February 1 to April 30 (long-term Feb to April average 145.9mm).

28.6mm at Narrabri, which had also endured a 38-day rainless streak, and where seven of the previous eight months have seen below-average rainfall.

Isolated falls exceeding 20mm at three weather stations in the Warrego district in southwest Qld.

24 hours to 9am Wednesday, May 6

123mm at Lake Ainsworth, just north of Ballina, NSW.

104mm at Tuckombil, near Lismore, NSW.

Falls exceeding 25mm at numerous locations in the ranges west of the Gold Coast.

Radar and atmospheric water vapour early on Tuesday morning in NE NSW and SE Qld
Image: Radar loop with atmospheric water vapour for the NSW North Coast and nearby areas in the early hours of Wednesday, May 6, 2026.

The map below shows rainfall deciles across the Murray–Darling Basin in the first four months of 2026. Note that some areas near the NSW/Qld border have experienced their lowest rainfall on record for this period.

Image: Rainfall deciles across the Murray–Darling Basin for the first four months of 2026. Source: BoM.

The next map shows rainfall across Australia in the 24 hours to 9am Tuesday. You can see how rain fell across some of the areas which have been very dry this year, even if the corners of SE Queensland and NE New South Wales missed out.

Image: Rainfall totals across Murray–Darling Basin in the 24 hours to 9am on Tuesday, May 5, 2026. Source: BoM.

Now here’s a map of the rainfall received at weather stations across Australia in the 24 hours to 9am this Wednesday, May 6. As you can see, the corners of SE Qld and NE NSW that missed out on Monday/Tuesday got a decent soaking in the 24 hours to Wednesday morning.

Image: 24-hour rainfall to 9am local time across Australia for Wednesday, May 6, 2026. Source: BoM.

Has rain cleared the region now?

While a few coastal showers are persisting this Tuesday around the Gold Coast, most of the rain has cleared northern NSW and southern Qld, with the main rainband now well out to sea.

A clearing trend will set in across the region for the remainder of the week, with rainfall activity ramping up in regions much further south as a strong cold front whips through Tasmania and the southeast corner of the mainland on Wednesday night into Thursday.