Glastonbury 2011

[devonhammer]

Final daily update:

JackOne: Thursday mostly dry, Friday showers in the evening, Saturday possibility of rain, Sunday dry and sunny.

TWO: Light showers Thursday afternoon, light showers Friday afternoon developing into rain overnight, largely dry Saturday with clear sky for sunset, dry Sunday .

Meteox: Showers Thursday and Friday, dry and warm Saturday and Sunday.

Meteo: Showers Thursday and Friday night, dry Saturday and Sunday.

GFS Ensemble: Showers overnight on Friday, otherwise dry.

Met Office: Showers overnight on Friday, otherwise dry.

ECM: Showers overnight on Friday, otherwise dry.

YR.NO:Showers afternoon and overnight on Friday, otherwise dry.

Got to rush. Have a good one and massive thanks to JACKONE.

Normalcaveats apply:

1) I know a bit about weather, not a lot about weather

[Coast]

Festival-goers facing muddy conditions on the first day of Glastonbury have been warned to expect more heavy downpours over the next four days. More than 130,000 people have already arrived on site at Worthy Farm, Pilton, and a further 7,000 are expected. U2, Coldplay and Beyonce are the headline acts for the event, which sold out in four hours last October.

Although some sunshine is forecast for Thursday, the mud is due to get worse with heavy showers expected on Friday. BBC West's weatherman Ian Fergusson said festival-goers could expect heavy downpours on Friday though the rain should ease up as the weekend progresses. The best weather is expected on Sunday with temperatures expected to reach 22C, although conditions are predicted to be humid.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-somerset-13885489

[danbailey80]

Bad news - Thursday has not been a good day so far, (and this was supposed to be our best day!). Rain all morning...sun coming out now though and windy, but I fear it's too much rain to deal with now. The only way we will face any chance of drying out would be if there was hardly any rain all weekend, and then would be dry by Saturday evening/ Sunday morningn at best....

I'm afraid the battle is over...Thanks though for all the help JACKONE..

Edited June 23, 2011 by danbailey80

[Turnedoutniceagain]

I must be getting old, but Glasto' looks less and less appealing with every passing year !!

[Iceni]

I must be getting old, but Glasto' looks less and less appealing with every passing year !!

As somebody who attended the first two Glastonbury's (if seeing Led Zeppelin at the Bath showground counts) and a couple more in the 80s, I can only agree. I am utterly shocked by the ticket prices — I think we paid £1 in 1970.

Ironically, one of the charity/sponsors is Water Aid… there must be a God after all.

Edited June 23, 2011 by Iceni

[Fussy Onion]

Ok, it is a mud bath. But it is also sunny and warm at the moment. Fingers crossed it will dry out a bit.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

Ironically, one of the charity/sponsors is Water Aid… there must be a God after all.

Excellent !! :lol:

[danbailey80]

As somebody who attended the first two Glastonbury's (if seeing Led Zeppelin at the Bath showground counts) and a couple more in the 80s, I can only agree. I am utterly shocked by the ticket prices — I think we paid £1 in 1970.

Ironically, one of the charity/sponsors is Water Aid… there must be a God after all.

It's called inflation; when things like toys and milk get more expensive as you get bigger.

Glastonbury is currently the cheapest festival in the world for what you get by a long way, (five days, more than 100 stages and the biggest acts in the world), which is remarkable considering they donate 3million to charity every year.

And that’s the wrong use of ‘irony’ by the way.

Apart from that a great post – cheers for your input…

Edited June 23, 2011 by danbailey80

[J10]

Latest update now done, and touch and go whether further rain on Friday night will badly effect Glastonbury. At least though looking dry and warm for the weekend,

[J10]

Latest NMM suggests only 2-3mm of rain is likely to fall at Glastonbury over the next 24 hours, with the majority of the rain further north. GFS itself suggest 3-5mm of rain for Glastonbury, again with the heaviest of the rain further North. NAE suggests 9-11mm of rain with Glastonbury, closer to the heavier rain further North and west.

The general pattern for the rest of the weekend is set in stone, turning drier and brighter on Saturday, before a very warm and sunny day on Sunday temps mid 20s.

[jethro]

I don't know how much rain fell but it was bleeding horrible there last night; there had been a few showers through the afternoon but nothing much, then it started to rain steadily about half 8 and was still raining when I left about 1 this morning.

The mud there is awful, no grass left at all, even the metal walkways are buried beneath a good few inches of mud - gloopy, thick, clay which does it's damnedest to suck your boots off with every step. I'm sooooooooooooooo grateful that home, a comfy bed and a hot shower is only 20 minutes away!

[J10]

Looking at the radar there was only about 4-5mm of rain, but looking at Press Reports, it appears to be very muddy on site.

Although this rain has been expected for a few days, it had looked drier even as far away as Tuesday. It is disappointing that it has turned out muddier than expected. I thin Glastonbury has been a bit unlucky with the showers on the first few days, and this rain in the past 24 hours, was the last thing wanted.

Disappointing both for the festival goers and also for my forecast as well.

[devonhammer]

Review for the benefit of JACKONE:

Thursday had thick sticky mud, Friday had persistent drizzle, Saturday was dry and Sunday was hot.

This was not a mudbath on the scale of the bad years in the 90's. By Sunday the majority of the site was actually baked earth. There were patches of mud, but you'd be a fool to get really muddy on Sunday.

The problem particularly up until Saturday morning was actually that not all that much volume of water had fallen and rather than wet mud we were mostly walking through clay which stuck to your boots and got very tiring. If I was to rate the weather alone and not look down then I'd call it a five at worst. Saturday evening was clear and warmer. Sunday was like 2010. Friday's headline slot had rain throughout, but it wasn't a problem as U2 seemed to thrive on it (I imagine it would have cause Beyonce a lot more issues).

If the ratings are based on conditions (weather and underfoot) then it would be a very difficult system. It actually would have been easier to get about if the mud had been a bit wetter, but then there would have been more areas of standing water. On this basis, I think it's best to just rate the weather and let people use their own experience to decide what it will do to the site. Also site conditions were very dependant on how well they had spread the hay and wood chippings.

All things considered I think JACKONE's forecast was good this year. He never strayed outside the 5-6 range and I think that's a fair reflection of the weather we got.

Don't forget to take next year off Jack, and thank you very much for providing this service.

[danbailey80]

Very much a mixed bag. The worst of he mud had dried by Saturday evening and all Sunday was hot with only the small odd patch of mud. Was wearing trainers all day Sunday and dancing bare feet once settled...

So yes the sight does turn to mud quickly, and stay that way if topped up with regualr showers. But it also drains away and dries out very quickly with the right conditions...I'd say it was a 7 overall...

[jethro]

All in all, not a bad weekend weather-wise.

What were the best bits for everyone? For me, it was the Chemical Brothers on Saturday night; having only ever seen them in the dance tent I was dubious about the stage set but it worked, could have been louder but you can't have everything.

One of the best bits about Glasto is finding someone you've never even heard of before and being blown away by them - for me that prize goes to Ben Poole, anyone into Blues Guitar, check him out, he's awesome.

[duggyfresh]

So hot yesterday, it was beautiful and a perfect end to the festival. No mud for going back to the car park, wore my trainers, no problem.

[stuboy]

A decent Glastonbury this year for me. not my favourite, but not bad either. Top highlight for me was Coldplay on Saturday night, followed by Chase & Status in a downpour on Friday and Pulp on The Park stage on Saturday.

Weather wise a very mixed one. This was my third Glastonbury and by far the muddiest one! Things started ok despite some rain on Wednesday morning, and by Friday morning a dryout was well underway. However; the rain did come and very much set in on Friday afternoon, and I would say mudbath conditions were established by early Saturday morning. I do remember being very very cold on Friday night (probably because I was so damp!). Ground conditions were very boggy and I found it very hard to get from A to B! However; the sun on Saturday and even more so yesterday dried things up consdierably by the end (although not completely) and this was a godsend for me as my Wellies split on Sunday morning! :wacko:

So, no Glastonbury until 2013 now, and therefore no worries about watching the weather for sometime to come!