The weekend, in fact, is set to bring some good news on two fronts – temperatures will cool off after a long hot summer and some sustained autumn tops and rain are on the way.

In fact, maximums are set to drop by up to 10 degrees over the next few days, after 17 days when Tamworth only saw the mercury dip below a top of 23 degrees once.

That was Thursday, April 8, when we only got to just over 18 degrees – but April has delivered average tops of 26 this year, which is about what the long- term mean is anyway.

And, in a month which is traditionally among the driest we see in our calendar year, Tamworth is ahead of the history books halfway through – with some great prospects for good falls this weekend to top it right off.

The forecast is for some widespread rain across the northern region, set to sweep in from the west late Saturday and bring between 10mm and 20mm for many centres.

While the minimums for next week are looking pretty much like more of the same as we’ve had over the past two weeks, we are set to see tops that will go as low as 17 degrees during the week.

The good outlook is on par with meteorological forecasts.

Senior climatologist with the Bureau of Meteorology Agata Imielska has told us the current seasonal outlook for April - June favours above-average rainfall – odds of 60 up to 70 per cent across the region favouring wetter conditions – in the Tamworth region.

Ms Imielska said the chances of an El Nino developing in 2015 are double the normal likelihood. If an El Nino develops, this may result in dry conditions in winter and spring for regions west of the Great Dividing Range.

The outlook figures follow a March where Tamworth rec- orded 52.2mm in rain (average of all records is 48.94mm).

The average maximum temperatures were 31.4, which was the ninth-highest March maximum temperature on record.

Generally, maximum temperatures were above to very much above average across the region while minimum temperatures were close to average.