Parts of NSW had their biggest rainfalls of the year on Thursday as a potentially drought-breaking storm front moved across central Australia – and more is yet to come.

Broken Hill, in far western NSW picked up 30 millimetres of rain on Wednesday night and Thursday morning. It was the outback city’s heaviest downpour in two years.

Dubbo received 18 millimetres of rain – after getting just 6.8 millimetres in the whole of September.

But it was the south-western NSW village of Pooncarrie that got the most rain, recording 53 millimetres in the 24 hours to 9am on Thursday.

The weather front – described by Sky News chief meteorologist Tom Saunders as Australia’s “most significant rain event of 2018” – is set to drop up to 100 millimetres of rain on coastal NSW and southern Queensland between now and early next week.

“This system is an inland low, rather than off the coast, which means the rain is over the inland and it is also very slow-moving,” he told News Corp.

“We’re seeing not just a couple of hours of rain. Some areas will see 24 hours of rain on and off for that period, so there are heavy falls as a result.”

The weather bureau is predicting up to 45 millimetres of rain in Sydney for Thursday afternoon, with the falls expected to intensify as the day goes on.

Wind gusts of up to 50 kilometres an hour are tipped to pummel the coastal fringe. They will also build later in the day.

A miracle. #brokenhill #rain pic.twitter.com/XNEZeQ0bkK

— Rebekah Lowe (@IamRebekahLowe) October 3, 2018

BOM forecaster Rob Taggart said the rainfall would make a difference to drought-affected areas, but it was unclear if it would break the drought.

“Fingers crossed it’s something that’s promising because there’s another system that’s coming through next week,” he said.

Ahead of the storm, Broken Hill was lashed with thunderstorms and winds of up to 109km/h, bring dust storms and flash flooding to the parched town. The skies above the city turned red as an intense dust storm swept in late on Wednesday.

Broken Hill grazer Sonia Carey said the similarities between Wednesday’s storm and those a decade ago were the strength of the wind and the speed it came into the city.

“It came in a massive, huge gust of wind, and blew everything over,” she said.

“I was surprised really. They don’t usually come that strong unless there’s a huge storm behind it.”

The dust storm hits Broken Hill. Photo: Facebook/Frankie Szakaly

Broken Hill meteorologist Phil Mew told the ABC the drought was exacerbating the problem with dust storms.

“The lack of rainfall has a great deal to do with it. With the situation the way it is, we will see more dust storms,” Mr Mew said.

Tim Neville from Blantyre station, 90 kilometres east of Menindee, said he was overjoyed after recording more than 40 millimetres of rain at his station.

“It was a beautiful drop of rain,” he said.

“I’ve been following the weather pretty hard lately, just hoping for every bit that they say you might get just five or ten millimetres or whatever.

“But yeah, it’s bloody great to see, I’m just lost for words.”

Further south in the Riverina, however, just a sprinkling of rain fell on some farms, despite grey skies blanketing much of the region.

The tiny grain community of Barellan looks relatively green but lifelong resident June Inglis said irrigation had been expensive and many farmers were struggling.

“There are a lot of farmers who won’t have any crops at all now,” she said.

The few millilitres of rain that had fall in recent days offered hope, but people were not rushing to celebrate because much of Barellan’s economy had stalled.

In August, the NSW Government declared 100 per cent of NSW in drought.

The NSW Department of Primary Industries determines drought status, based on data from the BOM. Generally a drought-breaking event would be “three or four” significant rain days in close succession, it said.