After months of very dry weather, rainfall is finally on the cards for eastern QLD and eastern NSW, bringing the heaviest rains since last summer. Even though April to September are the driest months for areas east of the divide, the past six months have been exceptionally dry for areas extending from Newcastle to Cairns. The upper Hunter, the Mid North Coast and the southern parts of the Northern Tablelands in NSW received very much below average rainfall from May to October, 100 to 300mm below their six-month average. In QLD, Wide Bay and Burnett and parts of the Central Highlands and Coalfields were the hardest hit, with as much as a 200mm deficit when compared to their April-to-October average. Finally, the season seems to be turning just in time to help mitigate fires along the east with the heaviest falls since last summer. Over the past week, widespread falls of 50-to-100mm have affected eastern NSW with some locations picking up in excess of 100mm through the past seven days. Batemans Bay picked up 180mm, 152mm at Port Macquarie, 130mm at Coffs Harbour. Luckily, areas in the Blue Mountains struck by the bushfires have also seen rainfall, with Katoomba picking up 107mm. Further inland, totals weren't as high but still welcomed. Scone picked up 21mm, Tamworth picked 26mm and 10mm for Gunnedah. In QLD, the heaviest rains have fallen over the east Darling Downs with Stanthorpe picking up 66m and 54mm for Ballandean. Clermont, in the Central Highlands picked up 45mm and 38mm at Mantuan Downs. This is the time of the year when the sub-tropical ridge (area of high pressure over Australia) moves south, enhancing the trade winds (southeasterlies) along the eastern seaboard. This in turn results in enhanced rainfall east of the Great Dividing Range during the late spring and summer months.