The Byron Bay Bluesfest is back for the first time since 2019 and the weather will be (mostly) dry for the five-day festival this Easter long weekend.

This year’s blues and roots festival – the 30th edition of Bluesfest since 1990 – will feature big-name Aussie artists including Midnight Oil, Paul Kelly, Amy Shark, Crowded House and Jimmy Barnes.

The five-day festival is a major drawcard for the Northern Rivers region in NSW, pulling in more than 80,000 people from around the country to give local businesses a boost over the Easter long weekend.

Unfortunately, COVID-related restrictions forced the festival to be cancelled in 2020 and 2021. Last year’s cancellation came painfully late for event organisers and local business owners, with the pin being pulled just 24 hours before the gates were set to open.

This year, COVID restrictions have been eased across NSW and it looks like the weather is the only thing that could now spoil the show, and after two months of relentless rain and flooding, locals have a right to be watching the horizon nervously.

Fortunately, the news on the weather front is good. While there will be a few showers over the next few days, there won’t be any persistent heavy rain in or around Byron Bay. Most of the wet weather will be confined to Thursday and Friday, with dry spells likely to be long and frequent between Saturday and Monday.

Image: Forecast accumulated rain during the next five days (Thursday to Monday) according to the ECMWF-HRES model.

The ground is still holding a lot of water from the last few weeks and any showers that do pass through will have no trouble making new puddles. So, make sure you have gum boots and a poncho handy just in case, especially on Thursday and Friday.

An Easter long weekend without flood-inducing rain will come as a welcome change after two major flood events in the last two months. Bluesfest should finally help local businesses start to recover from the compounding impact of the pandemic and floods.