2012 UK Drought

[cyclonic happiness]

I thought i'd start this thread as we are officially still in drought here.

I haven't got any statistics, but all I see is rain forecast and then not turning up, whilst the northern half of the country thinks we are having a laugh. (and the west).

So any drought realated stories or comment could go in here and ........

PLAESE RAIN SOON!

Oh and the daily mail has noticed this too

http://www.dailymail...ly-drought.html

[picog]

We are still in drought in the west of the region too. Like you, we keep getting forecast rain, but none, or very little actually arrives. We really need a couple of weeks of decent rain.

When I see forecasts like 'continuing unsettled', I just think "what do you mean, continuing, it hasn't even started to be unsettled"! Grass is still brown in patches, and it has grown very slowly all year — easiest grass cutting season ever. Several local streams have dried up or are running really low, and the bottom of the Teme in Ludlow has been dry in places for several weeks now.

The contrast between the north and Midlands is very striking. Even central Wales has been very dry.

[Aaron]

Well, parts of East Anglia are much wetter than we are here.. after the extremely dry April we have yet to get any decent amount of rain.

So it's been very dry across the Midlands and a large part of Yorkshire too. Not to mention north west Scotland.

[TonyH]

Still a chance of parts of the MIdlands having their driest year on record, although a wet later Autumn would put paid to that!

Just over 300mm at Coventry to date:

http://bws.users.netlink.co.uk/

The driest year of the past 145, is 1921 with 443mm, so in with a chance. At Rugby my parents place is on just 281mm, so I guess a few places could be even lower?

Not a drought meteorologically speaking as this would require at least 15 consequtive dry days, which of course has not happened over the past few months, rather these regions have had below average rainfall since Spring, and, even though the overall UK pattern has been 'unsettled' throughout the Summer, they have consistently missed the worst of frontal rains and showers, with falls of 10mm or more in a day being very few and far between.

[TEITS]

Well, parts of East Anglia are much wetter than we are here.. after the extremely dry April we have yet to get any decent amount of rain.

So it's been very dry across the Midlands and a large part of Yorkshire too. Not to mention north west Scotland.

Worth pointing out that during the Spring locations such as Peterborough only recieved 25mm and only 4mm fell during March, April. When the official drought was declared I believe the only counties involved were Cambs, Northants, Lincs.Beds, West Norfolk.

Actually i've found the link.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-13722013

Still lack of rainfall isn't surprising because the counties I mention are on average the driest places in the UK (see link below).

http://www.metoffice...971-2000_17.gif

[Aaron]

Wasn't the drought declared in May? Only had 11 mm in March and 1 mm in April here.. but by May rainfall was 32 mm.

[ANYWEATHER]

As I pointed out a few weeks ago, here we had only 9 inches of rain up to Mid August, compare that to July 2007 in that extreme case, we had that amount in just that month, a good portion of that falling in Just One Day..! We have had some rain since mid August, but still fairly dry, although today we have had 15.7mms of rain and more to come by the look of things!!

[Ben_Cambs]

Wasn't the drought declared in May? Only had 11 mm in March and 1 mm in April here.. but by May rainfall was 32 mm.

It was declared on 10th June as the link posted by TEITS shows.

[TEITS]

It was declared on 10th June as the link posted by TEITS shows.

Yep and i've just seen this other link that was posted today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-14958556

Again the only counties mentioned who are suffering from a drought are Cambs, Northants, Beds, Lincs, W Norfolk.

[Aaron]

Yep and i've just seen this other link that was posted today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk...ngland-14958556

Again the only counties mentioned who are suffering from a drought are Cambs, Northants, Beds, Lincs, W Norfolk.

Doesn't mean that other places aren't experiencing dry weather too.. especially the West Midlands. We might not be in a drought but there's certainly a distinct lack of rainfall

[TonyH]

Others factors besides rainfall amounts when deciding drought orders I suppose, such as ground water levels and reservoir levels, demand and usage, etc.

Bit of a generalisation in that BBC piece, much of the MIdlands certainly did not have a 'wet Summer'!

[Costa Del Fal]

Just over 300mm for our location thus far. Bits of rain since Late August but never amounting too much. If we finish with less than 400mm this year then we really are talking a very dry year. The Midlands all over has had a very dry year. Generally its one of the driest regions in the UK along with EA and most of the SE.

[TEITS]

Rainfall so far this year is around 210mm for my location. When I have more time I shall calculate the exact figure.

[Aaron]

It's 318.8 mm here.. even if every month from now til December is average we still won't exceed 500 mm.

[TonyH]

Just over 300mm for our location thus far. Bits of rain since Late August but never amounting too much. If we finish with less than 400mm this year then we really are talking a very dry year. The Midlands all over has had a very dry year. Generally its one of the driest regions in the UK along with EA and most of the SE.

Below 400mm as an annual total in the West Midlands would be unprecedented in the history of rainfall measuring!

Got a feeling it will even out somewhat and that closer to 500mm will be the total for most of the Midlands.

500mm is in fact an exceptionally dry year for you. Only 2 years (1921 and 1996) have failed to reach this figure in Coventry since 1867, the average being 685mm.

[Costa Del Fal]

Below 400mm as an annual total in the West Midlands would be unprecedented in the history of rainfall measuring!

Got a feeling it will even out somewhat and that closer to 500mm will be the total for most of the Midlands.

500mm is in fact an exceptionally dry year for you. Only 2 years (1921 and 1996) have failed to reach this figure in Coventry since 1867, the average being 685mm.

Indeed Tony! Less than 400mm does look unlikely but not out of the question though it would requite a few lengthy dry periods. Still, less than 500mm is quite something and less than the average Yearly rain for Spain for example! Its times like this which make me think how many say Britain is a wet country. In reality away from the far North and West it isnt! As we've seen repeatedly in the last few years, it can get extremely dry at times.

[cyclonic happiness]

Below 400mm as an annual total in the West Midlands would be unprecedented in the history of rainfall measuring!

Got a feeling it will even out somewhat and that closer to 500mm will be the total for most of the Midlands.

500mm is in fact an exceptionally dry year for you. Only 2 years (1921 and 1996) have failed to reach this figure in Coventry since 1867, the average being 685mm.

Driest since the little ice age ay??......hhhmmmm?

[Ben_Cambs]

Rainfall statistics from the Cambridge University Botanical garden station show that around 260mm of rain has fallen in Cambridge this year. In a average year, 260mm would of fallen by mid-late June! The annual average for Cambridge is 550mm, there is certainly no chance of reaching that! I'm guessing the year total will end up around 400-450mm. The last sub 500mm year was 2005 with 495mm of rain.

[conor123]

For what has seemed like such an insanely cloudy year (March & April) aside it has indeed been exceptionally dry here.

Days like today are an example, barely a drop of rain all day with showers all around, been like it all year always dodging the showers and just getting drizzly light rain from weather fronts.

[Snowyowl9]

I wouldn`t say it`s been that cloudy this year been sunnier,unlike last year july...

But I`m surprised theres been no hose pipe ban in the places mentioned on the topic as even here which isn`t as dry as say shrewsbury to ironbridge as the field are brown there.

Brook is still dry,did have more rain last night.

River severn is reasonable though the west of Wales is wet,fields are even water logged torwards the coast.

[Nick L]

282.2mm here, ponds getting really quite low.

[Bobby]

Rainfall so far this year is around 210mm for my location. When I have more time I shall calculate the exact figure.

That's amazing, we've had 205mm here in just the past 3 weeks.

Its times like this which make me think how many say Britain is a wet country. In reality away from the far North and West it isnt! As we've seen repeatedly in the last few years, it can get extremely dry at times.

True, there's large local contrasts, I think it's the frequency of rain and cloud that Britain gets it's rainy reputation from, that rain for many places is usually light though.

In my location I average ~1,800mm of rain a year while just 150 miles or so to the East places average just ~550mm - that's less than Rome, Sydney and even Jerusalem and Beirut in the Middle East.

So yes it's only really the N and West of Britain and especially on high ground that are wet, and there it can be very wet indeed. Obviously even so it's been very dry in some places this year.

Annual rainfall.

[TonyH]

Over 3 inches of rain here this month, an inch since yesterday, so yes, at last we have waterlogged ground, after the dry Summer.

Cambridgeshire has averaged just 265mm (approx) this year overall according to the Extra rainfall totals feature.

[Terminal Moraine]

I just looked up the total for Derbyshire this year which, according to the totals feature, stands at about 306 mm to the end of August.

If this is reasonably accurate it highlights the effect of altitude as I've recorded over 200 mm more than this in the same period, and even this is well below average.

[Aaron]