Previously submerged trees and willow saplings now sit many metres above the shore line, on the western side of Lake Hawea, and towards the head of the lake and the Hunter River mouth.
Hunter Valley Station owner Taff Cochrane said strong northwest winds which preceded the rain on Wednesday night had already started to whip up dust from exposed lake areas.
Dust storms have been highlighted by watchdog Guardians of Lake Hawea as one of the major effects residents will be forced to contend with because of the low lake levels.
Mr Cochrane said the low lake level had not caused any major change to his farming operations, but stock had been able to wander around fences and across exposed lake-bed areas.
Wednesday night's rain eased pressure on the Contact Energy-controlled hydro-electric storage lake, which rose about 4cm to 338.17m above sea level.
The MetService has issued another heavy rain warning for the main divide and the Queenstown Lakes area for today and through until tomorrow, with snow also forecast to fall to 300m and "intermittently" to sea level.
A MetService spokeswoman said the rainfall in the area had not been heavy, but recording stations near Lakes Wakatipu and Wanaka showed feeder flows would increase into the Clutha River catchment and downstream to Contact's generation dams at Clyde and Roxburgh.
Rainfall levels at Cromwell and Clyde were not available.
Mr Cochrane, who has farmed in the area for the past 30 years, said it would take a sustained spell of continuous rain to replenish lake levels.
However, winter snow was usually trapped high up in the mountain catchment until released by the spring melt in October.
