While Fairfax’s Weatherzone have predicted some smaller falls for the Tamworth region, it has also forecast “areas of raised dust on the northern plains”, although local weather watcher David Farrenden said that it will be nowhere near as big as last week.

“There will be some strong wind gusts of up to 70 km/h so we might see a bit of dust come through again, especially in the more elevated areas,” he said.

Meanwhile areas in the Illawarra and Sydney are expecting to be battered with over 150 mm of rain on Wednesday, as a large low pressure system “deepens fiercely as it gets closer to the coast.”

Locally Tamworth residents can hope to see a few storms move through the region on the edge of that system, with the potential to drop up to 20 mm of rain in some areas, after recent falls took the region out of the equation for the driest year on record.

Tamworth now sits at 303mm for the year, some 55 mm more than fell in 1994, but still 320 mm short of the average.

“It looks fairly unpredictable on the models, but I think we can expect to wake up to a storm on Wednesday morning,” Mr Farrenden said.

“Tamworth seems to be dividing the region, with rain expected on the southern slopes and Upper Hunter, but almost nothing expected to the north towards Moree.”

The Tamworth and Region Weather founder has found something to be optimistic about however, as the Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD) “ is starting to go back into the negative.”

“That is one of the best indicators in my books,” he said.

“This week is also the first time that the Timbumburi Creek has flowed into the Peel River since late in 2016 – so there is hope if we can be patient.”