Hi all,
A quick introduction. I live in Crymych, Pembs, sat at 265m asl on the east side of the Preselis. We get wet weather and are the butt of everyone's jokes about it always raining here. It rains often, perhaps not heavily but often. Snow can drift, but we've not had any significant snow since 2013. On the side of a hill cold air drops past us to the valley below. In 2010 they had -15c or near and we had only -9c. 2023 however has been exceptionally wet, even by our standards.
A friend in the village has a weather station with data published online here. It shows 2483.6mm of rain fell in 2023, beating what was a wet 2022 (1868mm). Bear in mind both years we had a 6 weeks or so heatwave with very little rain, so this is compressed into fewer months, exacerbating the feeling of perpetual rain. I'm wondering if this is a top ten statistic for Wales or even the UK? Can anyone help and let me know?
It feels as if it's been incessant. I work outside and have been rained off soooo many times it's not funny. In 2016 the area was in the papers with Eglwyswrw having 83 days straight of rain. We didn't get the record. We had a break of 1 day and then it rained for 14 more consecutive days...
Part of the issue in getting data is that we are in a very geographically specific place in Pembrokeshire, with moist Atlantic air rising then condensing and falling on us east of the hills. Solva on the coast is much drier. Any official figures don't take local conditions into account as they are based at stations not in the hills, but at Milford Haven, Aberporth, Pembroke etc. Looking at data for Pembrokeshire can therefore be misleading, or at least that's my understanding - I'm happy to her otherwise.
Anyways, here's a view from the house one year.
Cheerio and here's to more balanced weather in 2024.
Carl
