Broken Hill storms drop almost half of annual rainfall at weekend

Nutrien Ag Solutions livestock and property manager Troy Hartman said the downpour delivered as much rain as many landholders had received all of last year.

Mr Hartman said the town recorded falls between 50mm to 100mm across the two days and, with no stormwater infrastructure, the streets were awash for "a couple of hours".

"It was just what we needed; a lot of people got there last year's rain in three days," he said.

"But it was very patchy. Around Tilpa, only seven to 10mm was recorded, 10-12mm at Menindee, and around White Cliffs, we're still trying to find agistment for cattle.

"There are people 70 kilometres east of the town who have dams drying up."

Dave Langford, K-Tank, just 27km east of the Silver City, said he'd recorded between 17mm and 50mm, which was welcome as he only measured 100mm for the whole of 2023.

"It was highly variable," he said.

"We got 50mm to 60mm on the western side of our property, and we've got some full dams.

"But we had a pretty ordinary year last year, and this rain will give us a good base for the start of this year."

Pastoralists' Association of West Darling president Terry Smith said his property Scarsdale, which is 56km from Broken Hill, only measured 12mm, but another property north of the town received 50mm.

"A neighbour's neighbour only 15km away measured 85mm for the weekend; it was very patchy," he said.

"It will help fill some dams up.

"I heard that one property west of Cobar had 123mm, which will help set them up," he said.

Broken Hill's highest measurement of 118mm was taken at the airport recording station.

The Bureau of Meteorology's weekly rainfall totals for the six days up to January 9 included Pooncarrie Mail Agency, 49.5mm; Menindee Post Office, 48; Scotia Sanctuary, Wentworth, 66; Tandou; Brewarrina, Central Darling, 65.