The Queensland farming community is looking forward to next week with nervous anticipation as Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) weather models gradually come into alignment to forecast what is likely to be the most significant rain in a year for some inland regions.
Official BOM Water and the Land forecasts show parts of the Maranoa region in central western Queensland are set to receive in excess of 100mm for the week from today.
Australian Weather News is predicting 118mm for the week for Roma and 108mm for Injune.
If the falls come to realisation it will comfortably be the biggest rain event for the region since this time last year and will be a boon for graziers looking to kick off summer feed.
Unusually, the rain is generally predicted to taper as it heads east, with Toowoomba only on target for 53mm and Brisbane 39mm.
NSW is also forecast to receive reasonable falls, although only very isolated areas of far northern inland parts of the state are expecting more than 50mm, with 25-50mm for much of the eastern half of the state.
This rain could be either a boon or a hindrance for farmers in NSW, depending on whether they have finished harvesting winter crop.
Patch Clapp, Bureau of Meterology community information officer said BOM models were starting to come together and create more certainty about the rain arriving, starting with storm-based precipitation in central Queensland from Saturday onwards.
"The rain is looking like it'll spread a bit more widely across the next couple of days and into next week," Mr Clapp said.
"There's not too many places that aren't potentially going to see some rain, but the rain band overall will be patchy so it is still going to mean that people will miss out."
In terms of the first band coming through he said the upper end of the general rainfall totals was likely to be between 15-20mm, with potential isolated totals above that on the back of storm-driven rain.
The heaviest rain through more southern parts of inland Queensland are expected to kick off from Sunday onwards.
In NSW, the rain is expected in the north of the state from Sunday onwards, with Sunday to Tuesday the days with most promise.
Cattle markets in particular are keeping an eye on final totals from the rain band, with some hope it may provide impetus to pricing if the totals are significant enough to generate feed.
