The North West Slopes and Plains is forecast as a good chance to receive up to 25mm of rain that day.

And it will come "right in the prime sowing time" for some, AgriPath director Simon Fritsch said.

"At the moment across the north-west, we're struggling with starting moisture for the winter crops, so any rain we get now will be a bonus in getting crops established," he said.

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"It's more about the establishment of wheat and barley and, to some extent, canola - and it's also getting to be very late for faba beans."

However, with that poor soil moisture profile, "anything we do is coming with a fair degree of risk and we need a good amount of follow-up rain to make it successful," he said.

"From a grazing point of view, any rain we get now will be beneficial to fodder crops, but we won't see the benefit of the majority of those, across the region ... for six weeks - and we need follow-up rain.

"So basically, we need rain - and more rain after that, and more rain after that, and more rain after that."

Bureau of Meteorology duty forecaster Steph Spackman said there was a chance for thunderstorms in Tamworth and the wider region, "so if you're under [one], there's a chance you could get the heavier rain associated with that".

It comes after the bureau released its climate and water outlook for the next three months, saying "warmer-than-average conditions are likely to persist, with a drier-than-average end to autumn likely in the east".

Senior climatologist Felicity Gamble said there was "a 70 per cent chance of El Nino forming, even if only briefly, over the coming months", which would bring drier-than-average conditions from winter to spring.