At Loomberah, 2.4 millimetres of rain on Saturday night wasn't enough to settle the dust that could be seen from a few kilometres away.

Surrounding towns had a bit more luck with the rain, Nundle caught 29 millimeters while Quirindi saw 18.

"The visibility did drop but we attributed that to the showers at the time," Bureau of Meteorology forecaster Zhi-Wang Chua said.

"A combination of dry weather followed by storms around the region with strong wind gusts kicked up some dust as well."

There's no rain forecast for Tamworth in the coming week, with forecasters and climatologists now monitoring a potential El Nino system.

There's a 50 per cent chance of El Nino developing which is double the normal likelihood, but Mr Chua said it's not a strong certainty either.

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"There's a higher level which is alert, right now we're in watch and there is a chance of it developing but not a strong chance," he said.

"That normally happens during the autumn months so we would start to see the transition, it generally means drier conditions for Tamworth and the Australian eastern seaboard."

The length of an El Nino system is variable, so the Bureau of Meteorology is unable to determine its possible length at this stage.

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