More Rain For Australia

They'll be complaining it's too wet next. I can just see the headlines "Australian wheat crop battered by rains"....

A severe weather warning has been issued for the Northern Rivers and Mid North Coast of NSW with flooding and gale force winds likely during the next 24 to 36 hours.

The wild weather will develop as a low pressure system deepens near the Queensland border overnight and drifts south down the NSW coast.

Up to 100mm is possible from Tweed Heads to the Hunter by Friday night, more rain than normally falls during the whole of September. Rain will also reach inland parts of northern NSW with up to 25mm possible on and west of the ranges.

The low will also generate strong winds across northeast NSW with gales and five metre seas likely along the coast. At this stage computer models predict the low will start heading east away from the coast by the time it reaches the central NSW coast but Sydney can still expect a period of strong winds and moderate rain late Friday and early Saturday.

Meanwhile spring has started on a wet note across Queensland with rainfall accumulations over most inland parts already rising above September averages.

The highest falls on Wednesday went to the Central West and Maranoa including 63mm at Chesterton, their heaviest rain in at least nine years. 46mm at Tambo was their wettest September day in around 90 years.

Southern areas which missed out on winter rains also received a healthy drenching with Charleville's 33mm their heaviest in eight months.

The rain spread further southeast on Thursday as low pressure trough deepened near the NSW border. Heavy falls developed along the coast during the morning with 63mm hammering Maleny in just six hours. By 5pm Brisbane's water catchment had picked up around 25mm.

Oz Weather Map