A slow moving rain band on Wednesday brought more than 60 millimetres of rain for some Northern areas, but for the drought-struck East Coast it brought little relief.
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Some of the highest rainfall was at Cradle Valley with 69 millimetres, while Meander recorded 55, Deloraine 29 millimetres, Bicheno received 11 and Swansea three.
Bureau of Meteorology officer Anna Forrest said the rain band took ten hours to cross the state, starting at Smithton and clearing out across most of the state by Thursday.
"Rather than moving rapidly and not giving any one area sustained rainfall it meant that the accumulated totals received some decent values for a change," he said.
Other areas such as Liawenee recorded 51 millimetres, Lorinna 41, Wynyard 36, Burnie 34, Devonport 23 and Scottsdale 27.
By Thursday morning Launceston airport had received 24 millimetres, and the Tamar catchment recorded 30.
In the dry Northern Midlands, some rain relief was seen in Ross with 17 millimetres, which is almost three times the amount of rain that fell in the entire month of January last year.
Bushfire affected Fingal saw 16 millimetres of rainfall.
Bicheno's 11 millimetre recording had not been experienced since February last year, while Orford's recorded 16 had not been seen since September last year.
Deloraine cropping farmer Simon Eastley said the rain was a welcome relief for farmers' whose dam levels were low or empty.
Mr Eastley said intensive irrigation practices meant higher costs and higher workloads, so rainfall often freed up time to do other jobs on the farm.
He said the benefits of rainfall for the growth of crops depended on the type of crop and stage of growth, but most importantly whether the rainfall is followed by wind, which would negate the rain's benefits.
"You definitely like the rain when it turns up," he said.
For East Coast cow and sheep farmer Ian Madsen, 75, of Douglas River, it was still a matter of hoping for more.
Mr Madsen said the drought would be causing loss for livestock farmers across the region, struggling with food supply.
"A rain again on Monday would be nice," he said.
"You get a nice little bit of rain to do some good and you get a green tinge in the paddocks but then nothing follows, and the green is gone again."
