Yesterday's topsy-turvy weather - a blast of heat in the middle of the day, a quick mid-afternoon storm and then cooling, overcast conditions into the evening - largely marked the end of the heat period for the Lower Hunter.
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From today temperatures are expected to drop significantly into the low to mid-20s, and will stay that way.
On top of that we can expect a blanket of cloud over most of the Hunter for most of the next fortnight.
The overcast conditions bring with them the promise of rain, with the Bureau of Meteorology saying there is a chance of showers on Thursday, Friday, Sunday and Monday, as well as at the end of next week.
Whether it's enough to bring a smile to our farmers remains to be seen. Despite the recent rain, they say the dry, hard ground surface has meant that much of the recent rain has run off and not penetrated into the soil.
What rain has come is already too late for their winter crops.
According to the Bureau, daylight temperatures should remain fairly consistent all through this week and the weekend, ranging from 22 degrees to 26 degrees.
The overnight conditions are again stable, ranging from a cool 11 degrees to 14 degrees.
Unfortunately talk of rain, while good news for Maitland, fades quickly the further up the valley you go.
Scone for example, is expected to have a similar temperature pattern to Maitland - from a low of about 10C up to 14C overnight, with daytime temperatures hovering around the mid-20s - but with little chance of immediate rain. And what rain they may get will not be anywhere near enough.
