2012 UK Drought

[picog]

Still watering the garden here! Still have brown grass in parts! I'm not sure that I have ever needed to water stuff continuously through spring, summer, and into autumn.

[Northernlights]

http://www.fwi.co.uk/Articles/12/10/2011/129549/Crop-Watch-VIDEO-Scots-suffer-damp-harvest-but-south39s-too.htm Have just added this link to the Scottish thread to show the extremes of weather the UK has suffered this year. Maybe the summer forecast was not so far out only the dividing line between too wet and too dry was too far south

[cyclonic happiness]

Right we have a VAST band of rain in the northwest pushing southeastwards.........will we get any rain from it??

[TonyH]

The MIdlands and SE escaping most of the rain once more this week, a few mm (5mm max) from the squall line this evening, then just a scattering of showers tomorrow and Wednesday, before a ridge brings dry conditions back to end the week.

[sunny scunny]

The MIdlands and SE escaping most of the rain once more this week, a few mm (5mm max) from the squall line this evening, then just a scattering of showers tomorrow and Wednesday, before a ridge brings dry conditions back to end the week.

Lincs aswell will miss most of the rain, and even tonight looks like nothing but the odd spot of rain here.Very disappointing but nothing knew.

[Turnedoutniceagain]

The MIdlands and SE escaping most of the rain once more this week, a few mm (5mm max) from the squall line this evening, then just a scattering of showers tomorrow and Wednesday, before a ridge brings dry conditions back to end the week.

True, I got b*gger all again !!

[cyclonic happiness]

True, I got b*gger all again !!

Same here, we must have had around 7-10mm at most, not gonna do much other than to lay the dust, and the winds over the next few days will strip the moisture away from the land again.

Really is depressing.

[95 Degrees]

Enjoying this, just 5mm of rain in the last month with browning grass, would be nice to see some real rain again though.

[Teesdale]

Little in the way of rain on GFS 00 for those drought effected areas.

[Eabie]

Surely it has to end at some point? We have to have wetter than usual conditions eventually to even things out.....

[picog]

Same here, we must have had around 7-10mm at most, not gonna do much other than to lay the dust, and the winds over the next few days will strip the moisture away from the land again.

Really is depressing.

I would be delighted with 7-10 mm. We got just 0.5mm — it's amazing how the rain fizzles or "splits" when it gets here, then reinvigorates or "joins back up" later on as it passes down to the south coast.

[cyclonic happiness]

I would be delighted with 7-10 mm. We got just 0.5mm — it's amazing how the rain fizzles or "splits" when it gets here, then reinvigorates or "joins back up" later on as it passes down to the south coast.

I swear to god that if the same happens with the snows this winter, I will seriuously consider moving house to a snowier spot like say.....Luton or Central London

[I remember Atlantic 252]

today rainiest setup for Staffordshire, high pressure moving in from the SW, 2 wettest days this 0ct, the 6th and 19th, high pressure from SW

[Snowyowl9]

Still very dry the rain this year is not amounting to much yet.

[Styx]

Lowest cumulative rainfall totals so far for the year?

[Ben_Cambs]

Lowest cumulative rainfall totals so far for the year?

For Cambridge, around 270mm has fallen this year.

10 years ago today, on 21st October 2001, 90mm of rain fell in one day (which did lead to flooding in parts of Cambridge). Now, if you compare that figure to this year, it wasn't until the end of May when that figure of 90mm had been reached for the year so far, so it took nearly 5 months to achieve 90mm of rainfall this year, but it was done in one day in October 2001!

Edited October 21, 2011 by Ben_Cambs

[Styx]

For Cambridge, around 270mm has fallen this year.

10 years ago today, on 21st October 2001, 90mm of rain fell in one day (which did lead to flooding in parts of Cambridge). Now, if you compare that figure to this year, it wasn't until the end of May when that figure of 90mm had been reached for the year so far, so it took nearly 5 months to achieve 90mm of rainfall this year, but it was done in one day in October 2001!

That is very dry indeed !

That rainfall statistic is actually comparable to the most arid parts of Australia.

The 50 largest urban places in Australia ranks from Sydney at number 1, to the mining town of Kalgoorlie at 50 ( population 23,000, 700 miles east of Perth ).

Every one of those 50 places has a 2011 rainfall figure in excess of 300mm.

The bottom two are: Kalgoorlie with 308mm so far for the year, and Alice Springs with 321mm.

So 270mm is very dramatic ! No doubt a big flood is around the corner, usually seems to tend from one extreme to the next

[TEITS]

For Cambridge, around 270mm has fallen this year.

10 years ago today, on 21st October 2001, 90mm of rain fell in one day (which did lead to flooding in parts of Cambridge). Now, if you compare that figure to this year, it wasn't until the end of May when that figure of 90mm had been reached for the year so far, so it took nearly 5 months to achieve 90mm of rainfall this year, but it was done in one day in October 2001!

Pretty much the same as me.

What has really done the damage is just how dry March, April, May, September were. The combined rainfall total for these months in my location is only 40mm. Now so far only 12mm has been recorded this month. So as we are nearing the end of October its looking as though only 52mm of rainfall has fallen during these 5 months. That is an incredibly low figure!

[Weather Boy]

Not sure what my own recorded figure is but the Royston weather station currently stands at 293 mm for the year. Probably our slight elevation compared to very low lying Cambridge gives us a bit more on average.

We had crazily low spring rainfall with March and April both in single figures and May only just into double figures. We've then had a slightly drier than average summer followed by very dry September and (so far) October. (So far October, incidentally, has been extremely sunny).

So if the winter is cold (as foretold by many) then that often goes hand in hand with a dry winter which could spell big trouble for next year, water level wise.

[Crimson_Sprite]

I swear to god that if the same happens with the snows this winter, I will seriuously consider moving house to a snowier spot like say.....Luton or Central London

LOL!!! You know thats EXACTLY whats gonna happen!! Every year we get bugger all for snow compared to what the rest of the country is having. many of you have heard me wail and slit my wrists over this every winter. But every year, as the snow comes, it fizzles out just as it gets to the east midlands, whether it be coming from the east, after plowing into Newark, and leaving us with bugger all, or coming from the north, and dumping its hoards on the likes of Mansfield and Worksop, or coming in from the west, after giving Stoke, and Brum a good slaying. Every single time, we end up coming out with like 1cm when everyone else has about 5 or 6cm. So this year will be no different, probably more extreme and even DRIER than previous years. I dont see the pattern changing for us, because that would be too good. Its just ironic that summer this year (and fall), has followed the same pattern of precipitation it does in the winter, and basically all things falling out of the sky become barely a sprinkle of snow for us by time the cells get to us.

Yet- i still have dire hope this winter will be different, just like every single winter that I have lived in Nottingham, the Land of No Weather. Every winter I fill up with false hope, as i do every summer for storms. Cant wait to move from here in about 4 months I keep saying to myself, "this will be the last winter I ever have to bear in this city!

[Jimmyh]

i have never seen it so dry in late October as it is now.

[Ben_Cambs]

Pretty much the same as me.

What has really done the damage is just how dry March, April, May, September were. The combined rainfall total for these months in my location is only 40mm. Now so far only 12mm has been recorded this month. So as we are nearing the end of October its looking as though only 52mm of rainfall has fallen during these 5 months. That is an incredibly low figure!

Indeed and another problem has been that the majority of the rain that has fallen this year fell in the summer, so it quickly evaporated under the strong sun.

Looking like a wet start to next week, particularly across western areas, so the west Midlands could get a little relief from the drought. Unsure about how much rain may reach here in the east, details should become clearer over the weekend.

[TonyH]

Coventry on 332mm so far (October to date 18mm). 63% of the 30 year average.

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

Doubt that it willt edge the all time driest year though, only needs just over 100mm for that, with the wettest time of year to come.

Edited October 21, 2011 by Tonyh

[Michael Fishermans Friend]

Incredibly dry here - without much mention on national forecasts, infact probably the driest I've ever seen it at this time of year but if the models are to be believed with that large block over western russia/scandanavia we will soon be under the influence of low pressure in the next week and once it starts (rain) after such a period without much precipitation at this time of year it's sods law we'll get nothing else but rain for weeks so make the most of this weekend.

[TonyH]

Although there will be rain at times next week, yet again it looks like, based on GFS, that an unsettled set up will not produce much rain for central and SE parts. That has really been the theme since June.