On Thursday afternoon Bathurst in the central west was the recipient of a severe storm, gaining eight millimetres of rain in just 10 minutes and also some hail.

Thursday's storms have been focused on central and northern inland NSW with further potential for large hail, damaging winds and flash flooding. These storms should die overnight.

Big storms also occurred on Wednesday afternoon when 35mm of rain fell in Coonabarabran where there were reports of large hail. The central west town has had more than 190mm of rain in the last week, double the total monthly average and already the wettest January in 14 years.

The trigger for all of these storms is the same trough system which spawned from Cyclone Laurence more than two weeks ago. The trough has been stationed in western NSW since then, causing storms every day.

During the next few days the trough will weaken so much that this weekend there will be virtually no rainfall over flood-affected areas, for the first time since Christmas.