Take a look at one of the most impressively large and well-defined rainbands you’ll ever see, stretching on a north-south axis from the NSW/QLD border all the way down beyond the tip of southern Tasmania – a distance of around 1800 km.

The rainband is delivering light to moderate falls of rain across a broad area, with heavy totals recorded in one or two spots in western NSW that could definitely use the rain.

Indeed, White Cliffs – a tiny map speck with 100 residents in far northwestern NSW – has just had its heaviest rain in four years.

The rain band also contains thunderstorms, and is being caused by tropical moisture feeding into a low pressure trough that is moving across SE Aust today.

Severe thunderstorm warnings are in place for parts of Victoria and NSW, and you should check our warnings page here.

Some of the rainfall totals recorded from this event up until midday Wednesday (including rain that fell in the early hours of Wednesday morning before 9 am, which technically counts as Tuesday's rain) include:

NSW (forecast area in brackets)

• White Cliffs (Upper Western) 36.6 mm – this was the heaviest rain in four years!
• Wilcannia Airport (Upper Western) 17.8 mm – this was the heaviest rain in four months.
• Ivanhoe Airport (Lower Western) 12.4 mm – this was the heaviest rain in two months.

VIC (forecast area in brackets)

• Mildura (Mallee) 2.4 mm
• Swan Hill (Mallee) 5 mm
• Charlton (Mallee) 11.4 mm
• Stawell (Wimmera) 7.6 mm
• Ben Nevis (South West) 22 mm

Tasmanian rainfall totals are a few millimetres at most for now, and are limited to the North West Coast and Western forecast districts, but rain will spread across the state throughout the day, with a 90 to 100% rain probability in all forecast districts.

Rain has also just reached Melbourne and the city should see more than 10mm today, with heavier falls possible if storms strike the city. The Melbourne Cup was certainly well-timed this year with clear skies and a top of 29.7°C yesterday.