This was quite interesting too from BOM glossary, different to how I initially interpreted it.
Rainfall amount
Rainfall amount indicates the likely amount of rain in millimetres for the forecast period. Sometimes rain falls in a patchy pattern across an area with some locations receiving a heavy shower while an area nearby might miss out completely. On these days the rainfall range may be quite large, e.g. 5 to 30 mm. When steady rainfall is expected over a wide area, the range may be smaller, e.g. 10 to 15mm. |