ONE of the last things farmers want at the start of harvest is rain and that is what many received, when heavy rainfall was unleased across the bottom of Western Australia over the weekend.
On Sunday afternoon a trough moved across the south western areas - resulting in a large amount of rain falling on the South Coast and Great Southern districts.
The South Coast district between Albany and Hopetoun received between 50 millimetres to 100mm, while the Great Southern and southern Wheatbelt recorded 30-50mm.
Some sites had record-breaking rains for October, including Katanning and Glenrose.
Wellstead received the most rainfall, recording 64.8mm during the cold front, with Gnowangerup close behind at 62mm.
Kojaneerup recorded 57.6mm, while Stirlings North recorded 52.8mm and Amelup a hefty 52.6mm.
Katanning recorded a new October daily rainfall record fat its weather station of 41.8mm in 24 hours.
The former October record was 34.2mm on October 20, 2014 - making Sunday one of the wettest days in Katanning's history.
It was a similar story at Glenrose, which recorded 41.2mm in 24 hours - the equal highest October daily rainfall to October 20, 2014.
Bureau of Meteorology meteorologist Jessica Lingard said this amount of rain was probably a bit late in the season, and farmers who were trying to harvest were hoping for much less rainfall.
"We normally expect these higher rainfalls closer to winter, because we usually expect them with a nice decent cold front," Ms Lingard said.
In saying that, troughs are still a summer feature and Ms Lingard said farmers would continue to see a lot of them, but hopefully after harvest was completed.
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More rainfall is predicted this weekend, with the low pressure system most likely hitting the south western parts of the State.
On Saturday, there will be an additional 5-10mm from a band travelling from Merredin to Lake Grace.
A bureau climatology spokesperson said the November rainfall outlook was "tilting slightly towards below median rainfall" for large parts of the South West land division.
"November rainfall is typically about 10-25 in the South West Land Division, apart from the South West and South Coastal areas (25-50 mm) and generally less than 10mm in the northern parts," the spokesperson said.
Despite this year feeling incredibly wet, the year to date (January to October) for the South West district and surroundings recorded below-average rainfall.
Much of the northern and eastern parts of the South West Land Division recorded near average to above average January to October rainfall.
