sydney rain bomb
© AAPParts of the east coast are bracing for wild weather heading into the weekend - accompanied by strong winds
A massive rain bomb has exploded over the east coast of Australia, but it will not be enough to save the crops of drought-hit farmers inland.

Sydney was hit with a month's worth of rain over the last 24 hours and the Bureau of Meteorology said region could see a further 40mm on Friday.

But inland areas of New South Wales like Bathurst and the Central Tablelands have missed out, with the former receiving just 10mm on Thursday.

Zhi-Weng Chua, duty forecaster at the BoM, said western parts of the state would remain largely dry on Friday and predicted only isolated showers in the northern tablelands.

'We're expecting heavy rainfall in the Sydney basin area on Friday, but that's not really going to affect areas further west,' Mr Chua said.

He added, though, that Armidale in the central tablelands could see around 10mm of rain on Friday.

Thunderstorms dust
Thunderstorms stirred up dust in Broken Hill, New South Wales on Wednesday before the downpours began

NSW saw some of its heaviest rainfall of the year, with Ivanhoe in the state's west receiving 40.2mm on Thursday.

Sydney's deluge of 70mm in 24 hours was more than the entire month of rain for October in 2017.

But farmers in Bathurst were left still desperate for rain.

Motorists have been advised to drive carefully with many roads waterlogged, as Sydney braced flash flood warnings overnight on Thursday.

Cattle farmer Dan Owens said it could be as much as two weeks before his cattle have grass to feed on.

'It looks green but under that grass there is no moisture and the rain just runs off,'he told The Daily Telegraph.

'You have to at least hope for average rain ... it's all you could hope for.'

Thunderstorms have stirred up heavy dust in outback New South Wales, as much-needed rain begins to fall on drought-stricken farms.

Those in Queensland's southern inland areas were celebrating, meanwhile, after overnight rains reaching 30mm lashed the regional town of Hebel.

The BoM said 12mm of rain fell overnight in the town, with St George (pictured) receiving the most rain in the region with 25mm recorded

The BoM said 12mm of rain fell overnight in the town, with St George receiving the most rainfall in the region with 25mm recorded.

Hebel Hotel barman Mitchell Cummings told ABC News the rainfall over the past few days had doubled what they had received all year.

He said his bar had received 30mm of rain on Thursday.

He said: 'It's been fairly dry, so far here at the pub we've had 18 millimetres for the whole of the year up until today.'

Having just endured the driest September on record, many parts of eastern Australia are now receiving a drenching due to a low-pressure trough pushing east.

Broken Hill, in far west NSW, endured a dust storm before the downpours began - with the town receiving 33.4mm of rain on Wednesday evening, the most it has had all year.

NSW has had one of its driest starts to the year on record, with the entire state declared to be in drought.

Meteorologist Phil Mew said the previously dry conditions caused the dust storms.

'When we get a dry system coming through and you get strong winds, you get a dust storm due to the wind picking up small dust particles,' he told Weatherzone.

Areas further south and west of Sydney including Goulburn, Young and Nowra are also expected to be receive a heavy soaking throughout the weekend.

There's a likelihood of more rain heading into next week with a 40 per cent chance of rain Monday and 50 per cent chance on Tuesday.

Brisbane residents can expect the rain to continue into next week with the worst to hit on Saturday, when 10 to 30mm is forecast.

Those on the west coast also have a wet week ahead, with light showers in Perth expected until Saturday.

Conditions will stay predominantly clear in South Australia with temperatures hovering in the low to mid twenties in Adelaide.

Slightly cooler weather is expected in Hobart as showers ease and cloud cover is forecast to stick around well into next week.

The top end of the country will stay warm and dry, with a top of 34C expected in Darwin this weekend and the beginning of next week.

Cold, windy and rainy weather is expected in the country's capital city, but the sun is expected to reappear over Canberra by Sunday.