Parts of the east coast have been getting a soaking as showers become more widespread and heavy in places, bringing the most rainfall in a month. Some of the wettest places in the last 24 hours have been on the New South Wales coast, where instability has been highest and showers most frequent. One area of instability has been on the NSW north coast, where a weak trough has led to frequent showers. The showers brought more than 50mm of rain to the area between Ballina and Byron Bay, including 76mm at Tuckombil, inland of Ballina. Another unstable area, where frequent showers brought the most rain in a month was in the stretch from the Hunter to Sydney. Williamtown picked up 27mm, Terrey Hills 26mm, Sydney 21mm and Canterbury 11mm, all a one month high. Falls weren't all this plentiful but still pretty handy. Maitland only gained 3mm but this was its highest 24-hour rainfall in a month. Looking ahead to the next few days, these small areas of instability will edge further north along the east coast, bringing similar rainfall. This means that the heaviest showers will move north of Sydney as early as today. During today and tonight showers will be reasonably frequent on the New South Wales north coast and on Queensland's southeast coast due to troughs moving up slowly from the south. Showers are likely to amount to more than 20mm in some parts. On Wednesday and Thursday the trough, which has been bringing showers to Queensland's southeast coast will impact the northern tropical coast. The area from Townsville to Cairns has a chance of picking up more than 50mm, most likely over the hinterland. This won't be the end of it for the east coast. Easterly winds and low pressure troughs will give most areas north from the Illawarra showers each day through to early next week. The recent dry spell has come to an end.