Spring Rainfall Discussion Thread

[vortex_liam]

Hey,

I think this thread is a good idea as we can post rainfall rates arival times ETC.

Enjoy

I'll get started. I just had a small line of showers and now waiting for another heavyer line of showers moveing up over the channel.

[Dorsetbred]

It does appear that some areas of the UK are dry so far this year.

Down here I've just recorded the first rain for this month, and that was a mere 1.5mm, with the outlook also looking very dry.

[vortex_liam]

Im under another shower now, im noticeing that the rainfall comes down in showers more of the rain drops and not so much speed, unlike storms!

[Snowyowl9]

1 inch of rain since feb 26th.

Wet last night at 8mm.

Much clearer sunny fresh today.

April 2000 was the wettest spring month on record except there was a severe memorable snowstorm here.

[reef]

There has been only 2.4mm here so far this month. January was the direst since at least 1997 aswell with 17.6mm.

February followed in the footsteps of 2009 and 2010 in being very wet but so far the year has had a dry start overall.

[Ben_Cambs]

Only 0.3mm here so far this month and no notable rainfall since 27th February. The ground has dried up quite noticeably and another dry week is in prospect, with High Pressure edging closer to the UK next week.

[picog]

Very dry here all year so far. Ground very dry, usually very muddy at his time of year, and the water table is low. Pond is very low, and I'm watering pots in the garden! Much as I dislike the rain, we could really do with a very wet March/April to try and top things up before summer.

[Terminal Moraine]

Very dry so far this month with only 5.9mm, however this is more than twice as much as in March last year which recorded only 2.1 mm in the first 15 days.

[Costa Del Fal]

Only about 5mm so far this month and 85-90mm for the year so far which is now below average. A pretty dry start to the year and if things carry on for some time then there may be problems.

[Stargazer]

Little more than trace rainfall here in Reading so far this month, but January was wet and February close to average, so not a dry year so far here.

[Osbourne One-Nil]

47mm so far this month and we're already well over halfway towards last year's total, with 387mm falling so far.

[Terminal Moraine]

204.5 mm here so far this year which is 88% of the 35 year average to the middle of March. Last year was even drier with only 156.5mm at the same time.

[TonyH]

Only 12 mm for the first 2 weeks of March.

[MP-R]

Only 12 mm for the first 2 weeks of March.

Yep, and only 14mm here too. Though last year was quite impressive with almost the first half of the month registering no rainfall whatsoever if it hadn't been for a convective day on the 12th. The second half, however, was wet and sometimes very wet so that made up for it.

[Evening thunder]

Just 3.8mm here this month so far according to the Davis VP2, and that includes dew and frost melt. I'm not actually sure if in official terms this should be recorded in the rainfall total?

Last year though didn't record any rain until the 18th, 0.8mm of what I presume was dew/frost melt)

[johnholmes]

Just 3.8mm here this month so far according to the Davis VP2, and that includes dew and frost melt. I'm not actually sure if in official terms this should be recorded in the rainfall total?

no dew/frost are not included in rainfall totals, so you have to delete them from your monthly value?

[Terminal Moraine]

no dew/frost are not included in rainfall totals, so you have to delete them from your monthly value?

It's not often I disagree with you, John, but I do on this one.

Dew, fog and melted hoar frost are all precipitated water and are included in the monthly total if they're sufficient to register in the gauge. This has been the case since the earliest days of British Rainfall started by the great G.J Symons.

[reef]

It's not often I disagree with you, John, but I do on this one.

Dew, fog and melted hoar frost are all precipitated water and are included in the monthly total if they're sufficient to register in the gauge. This has been the case since the earliest days of British Rainfall started by the great G.J Symons.

I was always under the impression you included it aswell. I suppose it depends on whether you are recording 'rainfall' or 'precipitation'. Last night was a good example, no rainfall on the radar yet on the ground in the thick fog water was precipitating out. This gave 0.2mm and wet the ground/objects just as rain would (indeed it looked like a downpour had occured, very interesting!).

[TonyH]

Indeed last March began even drier, with only 1mm at this stage.

Ended up on 107mm, cannot see that happening this month.

[Evening thunder]

Interesting replies, thanks for those, I wondered because I had heard both versions before.

Also I think to keep consistency and as I won’t always be able to catch what's dew and edit it out, especially when away I may just continue to not delete them, and perhaps make a note in monthly reports. Also my set up isn't perfect really, I don't really have a suitable place for a gauge with the rim height at 30cm, and I've recently read a good report on a Davis VP2 station with a comparison to official instruments that suggests the rain gauge may not be that good in accuracy, even if you calibrate it as it seemed to vary day by day.

This is the report I read here, which is obtainable from Prodata Weather Systems here http://www.weatherst...ert_reports.htm

Last March ended up as 68.4mm here