Often a lot more behind the actual numbers that makes a big difference in yields 

Those gully washer rains look big in the record but too much runs away, a nice gentle all day rain with much less total rain is much more beneficial.

In my case almost all the October rain came in the first 3 days.

Did get an all day rain yesterday but only added up to 7mm with a little more later in evening to be recorded today but sun shinning this morning