2012 UK Drought

[Summer Sun]

Could be Gavin.IMBY. We have had only 8 days of precipitation. Amounting to 24 mm since February 14 th!!

So that's 8 days out of the last 47. Pretty Amazing Really

Was it last year when the western Isles where in drought?

[Bumpkin]

If anyone mentions the D word this year I am likely to commit murder after the weather we had to put up with last year.

[DR(S)NO]

Was it last year when the western Isles where in drought?

The Western Isles is facing one of its worst droughts in living memory while other parts of Scotland are suffering severe flooding.

Islanders are being told to conserve water after utility company Scottish Water warns that reservoirs levels are dropping after a prolonged dry spell.

Exceptionally good weather and months with little rain has created the drought conditions and resulted in a very large number of wild fires in many places across the islands. ( article from Hebrides News 6/7/12)

However, while most of the UK has been experiencing deluges, islanders on the Western Isles have been desperately saving water, having had little rain since April. They have been hit by a high number of wildfires.

Plants are now flowering in exposed river beds where salmon should be swimming and the reservoir at the Stornoway waterwheel has turned to mud.

Harris crofter Steve McCombe said: “It’s the worst people say they have ever seen. There is no growth and the grass is yellow. Some streams have dried up completely. It is definitely a struggle for crofters this year.†(Article from The Scotsman 7/7/12)

So your spot on Gavin

Out of interest. At this point last year we had seen 220 mm of precipitation. Compared to 250mm this year.But 150 mm of this was in January.So last year we had around 120 mm feb/ mar. And this year. Only around 100mm. So could be interesting if we have a dry spring

[Summer Sun]

The Western Isles is facing one of its worst droughts in living memory while other parts of Scotland are suffering severe flooding.

Islanders are being told to conserve water after utility company Scottish Water warns that reservoirs levels are dropping after a prolonged dry spell.

Exceptionally good weather and months with little rain has created the drought conditions and resulted in a very large number of wild fires in many places across the islands. ( article from Hebrides News 6/7/12)

However, while most of the UK has been experiencing deluges, islanders on the Western Isles have been desperately saving water, having had little rain since April. They have been hit by a high number of wildfires.

Plants are now flowering in exposed river beds where salmon should be swimming and the reservoir at the Stornoway waterwheel has turned to mud.

Harris crofter Steve McCombe said: “It’s the worst people say they have ever seen. There is no growth and the grass is yellow. Some streams have dried up completely. It is definitely a struggle for crofters this year.†(Article from The Scotsman 7/7/12)

So your spot on Gavin

Out of interest. At this point last year we had seen 220 mm of precipitation. Compared to 250mm this year.But 150 mm of this was in January.So last year we had around 120 mm feb/ mar. And this year. Only around 100mm. So could be interesting if we have a dry spring

Thought so

[Jax]

If anyone mentions the D word this year I am likely to commit murder after the weather we had to put up with last year.

Damp

[Bobby]

After the wettest year ever for much of the UK with reservoirs generally full to the brim it will take months of dry weather before there's any hint of hospipe bans etc. Even this winter rainfall has been generally average/slightly above average for the UK. 'Summer' is coming soon anyway that'll erase any drought worries lol.

Met Office statistics show this winter was 13% wetter than average for the UK as a whole.

[DR(S)NO]

Snow-hit isle now a wildfire risk after dry spell

A WILDFIRE warning was last night issued to crisis-hit Arran - despite 12ft of snow still burying parts of the island.

The alert comes ten days after freak blizzards struck, leaving hundreds without power for up to a week.

Countryside experts believe there is now a danger of infernos on the hillsides, even though some areas are still blanketed with snow.

The warning comes as fire crews battled a huge blaze near Fort William, Inverness-shire.

Arran’s Ranger Service said: “The long spell of dry weather means a high fire risk in glens, hills and woodlands.

“The vegetation is tinder dry so please don’t drop cigarette butts or light fires when out walking or camping.â€

Businesses and villagers are trying to claw back compensation from Scottish and Southern Energy and their own insurance companies.

(Courtesy of today's Scottish Sun)

Quite unbelievable this......I needed to check it wasn't April 1st! But again shows how remarkably dry some areas have been the past few months

[Bobby]

Snow-hit isle now a wildfire risk after dry spell

A WILDFIRE warning was last night issued to crisis-hit Arran - despite 12ft of snow still burying parts of the island.

The alert comes ten days after freak blizzards struck, leaving hundreds without power for up to a week.

Countryside experts believe there is now a danger of infernos on the hillsides, even though some areas are still blanketed with snow.

The warning comes as fire crews battled a huge blaze near Fort William, Inverness-shire.

Arran’s Ranger Service said: “The long spell of dry weather means a high fire risk in glens, hills and woodlands.

“The vegetation is tinder dry so please don’t drop cigarette butts or light fires when out walking or camping.â€

Businesses and villagers are trying to claw back compensation from Scottish and Southern Energy and their own insurance companies.

(Courtesy of today's Scottish Sun)

Quite unbelievable this......I needed to check it wasn't April 1st! But again shows how remarkably dry some areas have been the past few months

I don't think it's so much that things have been remarkably dry but dry air, low dewpoints and strong winds lately have stripped the moisture out of the ground and vegetation pretty good. Also this time of year is probably the worst for wildfires because the vegetation from last year has died and dried up and the fresh vegetation has not yet come through. Most of the wildfires we've had here in the Welsh uplands have around this time of year, it's a vulnerable period if its been dry for a week or so. The strong winds of course also make any fires spread faster..

[Summer Sun]

Outrage at new drought alert: Water firms are forcing cut back despite wettest year

A WARNING to millions of customers to watch how much water they use this summer provoked scorn last night after the worst floods for decades. With many areas still recovering from last year’s record rainfall, water firms called for “wise†usage to prevent restrictions. One company said that people should show caution as Britain is “never more than 18 months away†from a drought. The warnings sparked outrage with ­campaigners branding the comments “weird†and “insensitive†just months after England’s wettest summer on record last year. And they came days after millions of households, already struggling with soaring energy bills, were hit with hikes in water tariffs.

Consumer groups last night reacted furiously to the calls from water companies Thames, South East and Anglian. Environment consultant Fred Pearce said: “This does seem very odd, it has been incredibly wet over the past year and there is more rain on the way next week. I don’t understand what the problem is. Many people are still drying out from the floods of last summer – this is going to sound very strange to them.

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/389492/Outrage-at-new-drought-alert-Water-firms-are-forcing-cut-back-despite-wettest-year

[Summer Sun]

Severn Trent issues warning on water supplies

Severn Trent is warning homes and business across Shropshire and mid Wales to be careful with their water despite one of the wettest summers on record and weeks of snowfall. The company said although the recent weather had been unusually cold and snowy, this time last year much of England was suffering a severe drought – the worst in 100 years. Marcus O’Kane, water resources strategy manager for Severn Trent Water, said: “We are now looking ahead to the upcoming spring and summer period with our water sources in a good position. “Our reservoirs are currently about 94 per cent full on average across the region.

“The Shropshire area is supplied with a mixture of groundwater and water from the River Severn, both of which are again in a healthy state. “Our plans for the coming year are in place and we are confident we’re in a good position to provide our customers with a continuous supply of water during the year. “But we would still ask customers to be sensible with the amount of water they use as you never know when the next drought might be.â€

http://www.shropshir...water-supplies/

Water firm warns drought could be around the corner

Homeowners and businesses have been urged to use water “wisely†despite one of the wettest years on record in 2012. The warning from several water companies came a year after droughts led to a hosepipe ban being introduced across a large swathe of the region. But the April 5 ban, which left people facing punitive £1,000 fines for watering their gardens, almost seemed to be the catalyst for heavy downpours, which led to widespread flooding and 2012 becoming one of the wettest years on record. Utilities that introduced the ban last year, which affected 20 million people, said they had seen their stocks well replenished by the heavy rainfall.

But there was a warning that the UK’s unpredictable weather meant that scenarios such as the back-to-back dry winters that triggered it could be repeated.A spokesman for Thames Water, which supplies much of Wiltshire and Gloucestershire and was one of the seven firms that introduced restrictions last April, said: “The past year has been England’s rainiest on record, leaving our natural underground water storage basins brim full and set to sustain river flows throughout the year – a very different picture from last April. “While water use restrictions this year are highly unlikely, we would ask everyone to continue using water wisely, because we are never more than 18 months of very dry weather away from a drought.â€

http://www.thisissom...l#ixzz2PnIN5tNJ

Edited April 7, 2013 by Gavin.