THE VERY start of the Peel River - Tamworth's life source - is nestled in the hills behind Nundle, on the property of grazier John Sylvester.
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Mr Sylvester told the Leader he had recorded about 192mm of rain during a few days of wet weather at the end of last week.
It was enough to burst the banks at the head of the Peel, and send the river raging into Chaffey Dam with more force than has been seen in several years.
"We got a pretty big storm right up at the head of the river on Sunday, we got 50mm or so in about 10 minutes, everything was already pretty full but that really got the river flowing," Mr Sylvester said.
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"It's looking really well, like a typical storm it went up and down fairly quickly, but it's running well and it should keep charging into the dam for a while.
"If this is the start of La Nina, it looks like setting up for a wet summer which would be fantastic."
Data from Water NSW shows the section of Peel River at Taroona - which is just before the river hits Chaffey Dam - rose rapidly on Sunday.
The Peel peaked at almost four metres at Taroona that afternoon.
Even when Chaffey Dam filled up to capacity in 2016, the flows weren't as strong, nor the river as high, as they were during that brief peak on Sunday.
The total impact of the rain event was enough to send more than 4000ML of water - or 1600 Olympic swimming pools worth of water - gushing into Chaffey Dam.
The supply inched higher and higher, to go from where it had been hovering at around 26 per cent, to more than 30 per cent full by Monday morning.
Mr Sylvester said it had been a good year for rain at the head of the Peel River.
"Now we're at 950mm for the year, that's about the annual average, so we're heading for above average rainfall for the year, certainly," he said.
And the wet months have helped the land recover enough from the big dry that the deluge is welcome, rather than damaging.
"We have plenty of ground cover now, so we can handle a fair bit of rain and it won't do too much damage other than a few fences and things, but on the land side of it, it won't erode too much or anything," he said.
The Bureau of Meteorology is predicting more of the wet stuff to bucket down on Wednesday and Thursday in the Tamworth region.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
Police and crime reporter at the Newcastle Herald.
