What a crazy day - lightning earlier this eve in that belt of squally heavy rain which came through the northwest.
During the day a mad mix up of hot sun (briefly) and icy machine gun hail and lashing rain. Trees swaying in the spells of violent NW wind.
Collected 9.0 mm this morning at 9 GMT. Current total for April is 107.6mm.
Spent last few days trying to make progress with outdoor work, but everywhere is just too saturated to manage. Utterly disheartening. At a simple level the sodden veg garden is covered with thick lush weedy grass grown well in the warmer temperatures. There's no way anyone can even walk on it.
But I could weep for the fields. Decades of work maintaining the network of tile drains and costing many thousands of pounds is now all for nothing. The drains have been silted up in the heavy rain since the start of July last year and it is impossible to get machinery on the land to clear them without causing damage. So now there is rush invasion taking over other species in the meadows. Even if the rain is suiddenly switched off it will be a very long time before the fields dry out and normal farming resumes.
I've been told that arable farmers are also having problems. Seeds not yet in the soil. Overwintering crops ruined.
I fear for food supplies whether for humans and farm animals next winter. Doubtful if places abroad can supply us reliably and cheaply when distrurbed weather patterns seem to be a worldwide problem.