Drought Watch

[Puddy Galore]

43 minutes ago, markyo said:

Wildlife under stress as dry spell shrinks rivers

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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Most of the world's chalk streams are in southern and eastern England and are under particular strain.

We are not the only ones desperate for rain now, this Summer could go down as a disaster for wildlife.

Yes, I have actually put a washing up bowl and old cat litter tray full of water the other side of my fence in the woods for the deer, badgers, birds and any other wildlife over there.  I keep the bird bath in the garden full of water too.  

Edited August 10, 2022 by Snowycat

[seb]

2 hours ago, Love Snow said:

Sky News just said no damp weather in the Models until the End of October can anyone confirm this? 

 

A number of long range models show below to well below average precipitation. They may of course be wrong.

That said, given the last 8 months, the estimate that we would need 12cm(!) more rain than average to cancel out the lack of rain seems correct.

Edited August 10, 2022 by seb

[Nick L]

14 hours ago, Snowycat said:

Well, that and stupid thick brain dead teenagers with less than 2 neurons rubbing or rattling together in their empty juvenile heads.   Late this afternoon whilst watering my neighbours pots and baskets I could smell burning and the tell tale shrieks emanating from the tinder dry woodland at the rear of my property.   Given the strong smell of burning, the close proximity to dwellings and the dryness of the trees and woodlands I went to investigate.  After a few terse words and a roasting (no pun intended)  I moved around 10 female teenagers out of the middle of the woods only to discover they had - yes, a lighted portable barbecue  They couldn’t have skedaddled any quicker to get away but I could see the contraption was not fully doused.   The fire service have been out to check it and they have dealt with it fully.  Where is the common sense?  Such selfish stupid behaviour.  

I don't think anyone would be disappointed if disposable BBQs were banned completely. Horrible things.

[Methuselah]

1 minute ago, Nick L said:

I don't think anyone would be disappointed if disposable BBQs were banned completely. Horrible things.

I know the situation is exceptionally dire this year, Nick, so I would love to see them banned tomorrow! But, otherwise, there are those of us who take the Country Code seriously' and take every last scrap of rubbish (after having doused everything first of course!) and put it into the nearest trashcan. The trashcans are always empty as most folks put their bags of dog sh*t in the nearest tree!

[Row w]

10 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

I know the situation is exceptionally dire this year, Nick, so I would love to see them banned tomorrow! But, otherwise, there are those of us who take the Country Code seriously' and take every last scrap of rubbish (after having doused everything first of course!) and put it into the nearest trashcan. The trashcans are always empty as most folks put their bags of dog sh*t in the nearest tree!

Tell me about it they hang from the trees like dirty christmas decorations 

[Puddy Galore]

33 minutes ago, Nick L said:

I don't think anyone would be disappointed if disposable BBQs were banned completely. Horrible things.

It does worry me because of the wildlife across there.   I’ll try and get to the spot later today as the firemen said there were cans and other rubbish left.  Really annoying as there is a rubbish bin not far away. 

20 minutes ago, Row w said:

Tell me about it they hang from the trees like dirty christmas decorations 

Such a dirty filthy habit isn’t it  

[TwisterGirl81]

I will never understand people who litter, I can't imagine being that type of selfish person....That being said local councils don't make it easy as they've removed a lot of public bins and some people don't have the common decency to just wait until they come across a bin.  it is tinder dry here....

We had a fire in one of our parks at the weekend and it made the hospital stink of smoke, we genuinely thought there was a fire somewhere, probably caused by a broken bottle or something.

Edited August 10, 2022 by TwisterGirl81

[Methuselah]

22 minutes ago, TwisterGirl81 said:

I will never understand people who litter, I can't imagine being that type of selfish person....That being said local councils don't make it easy as they've removed a lot of public bins and some people don't have the common decency to just wait until they come across a bin.  it is tinder dry here....

We had a fire in one of our parks at the weekend and it made the hospital stink of smoke, we genuinely thought there was a fire somewhere, probably caused by a broken bottle or something.

Town Councils could put bins every ten paces, and, still folks would avoid using them! And, I bet they're the very same people who whinge about the mess Romanies leave behind?

[TwisterGirl81]

9 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

Town Councils could put bins every ten paces, and, still folks would avoid using them! And, I bet they're the very same people who whinge about the mess Romanies leave behind?

Some but the majority would put rubbish in the bins I'm sure....Councils have consistently cut services....I live in Exeter and it is a pretty city but has been ruined this year by the excess weeds growing and unkempt nature of bushes etc due to very little weeding being done or gardening in public areas etc... Blaming it on staff shortages ie covid/brexit etc when in fact it's mostly because they sub contract out to private company to do it and all their staff were sent to the commonwealth games in Birmingham and I have that on good authority.  

Edited August 10, 2022 by TwisterGirl81

[Row w]

26 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

Town Councils could put bins every ten paces, and, still folks would avoid using them! And, I bet they're the very same people who whinge about the mess Romanies leave behind?

Again I feel your pain, there's literally bins every few yards when I walk my kids to school and still there's copious amounts of litter and piles of dog s**t to have to dodge 

[Summer Sun]

 

[richie3846]

Water situation reports for England - GOV.UK

WWW.GOV.UK

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Monthly water situation reports and weekly rainfall and river flow reports.

This page is currently being updated, most of the area details are already up to date with end of July figures.

 

The soil moisture deficits are interesting, in this area for example, June ended on 103mm, yet by end of July, this has increased to 129mm. Not much of increase given the extreme conditions, but as the grass dies back and larger plants and trees struggle to suck up enough water, the amount lost from the ground reduces, and at this level of drought, the daily losses are very small indeed, maybe 1mm, compared to 4 or 5mm in the same weather but with wet ground.

Purely speculative, 10 days into August with no rain, I think another 10mm could have been lost from the ground. 

 

This story is repeated all across the south, and with average rainfall in the drier parts of England around 50 to 70mm a month during the wetter half of the year, it's easy to see that it would take 2 months of average rain to wet the ground again, BUT that's not the reality, because there will still be losses to the atmosphere during September and October, and it slows down considerably by November, and rain finally gets a chance to accumulate effectively, in average rainfall conditions. Aquifers don't start replenishment until the soil is pretty much saturated. The aquifers give many rivers their base level flows when it's not raining.

 

It's not difficult to imagine that even average rain will not fully replenish both the ground and the aquifers by end of winter.  After a spell like this, rainfall of 120% of average would be ideal to restore balance by next March.

 

 

[Summer Sun]

An official drought is expected to be declared on Friday

[seb]

 

[kold weather]

42 minutes ago, Summer Sun said:

An official drought is expected to be declared on Friday

Yep I've seen the same. Kinda reminds me ot the pandemic when it was blatantly obvious we were in one but for the official recognition.

Most bodies of water around my local area are basically gone now, a couple of the early leavers are now basically dust bowls as the ground has totally dried up.

Also worryi g hints of possible storms down the line, not going to do a great deal to help the dryness of the ground.

[danm]

Climate crisis: Drought hitting nearly half of Europe - and it could last for months

NEWS.SKY.COM

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Prolonged hot and dry weather leaves EU countries grappling with withering harvests, lowered energy production and emergency water handouts, just as the war in Ukraine prompts a...

 

[Weather26]

2 hours ago, Summer Sun said:

An official drought is expected to be declared on Friday

Now watch a repeat of Autumn 1976 happen and it pours it down for months since it happened just after they appointed a minster of drought!

[minus10]

15 minutes ago, Weather26 said:

Now watch a repeat of Autumn 1976 happen and it pours it down for months since it happened just after they appointed a minster of drought!

Perhaps thats the key...declare a drought to get the weather to change...

 

31 minutes ago, danm said:

Climate crisis: Drought hitting nearly half of Europe - and it could last for months

NEWS.SKY.COM

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Prolonged hot and dry weather leaves EU countries grappling with withering harvests, lowered energy production and emergency water handouts, just as the war in Ukraine prompts a...

 

What a year this has been..seeing that dry map of Europe just shows the extent of the lack of rain in this part of the world...

Edited August 10, 2022 by minus10

[*Stormforce~beka*]

27 minutes ago, Weather26 said:

Now watch a repeat of Autumn 1976 happen and it pours it down for months since it happened just after they appointed a minster of drought!

What is a minister of drought meant to do? Make it rain?

[Methuselah]

31 minutes ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

What is a minister of drought meant to do? Make it rain?

Exactly what he did do: talk borrocks!

[HighPressure]

38 minutes ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

What is a minister of drought meant to do? Make it rain?

I seem to remember they bought in a genuine Indian Witch Doctor to do a 'Rain Dance' in 1976, don't think it worked but maybe worth another shot this time ?

Edited August 10, 2022 by HighPressure

[jy]

Denis Howell failed minister of sport,promoted to drought Tsar.Not long after the rain helped the River Severn surge over the banks.Tsar Howell was interviewed,behind him guy paddled by in a canoe,what he called him isn't suitable for this forum lol

[ChannelThunder]

The latest GFS is the best run in months for rain. Pinning all my hopes on it!

[WeatherArc]

Concerned with the latest GFS run for saturday, with relative humidity levels down to around 15% any wildfire that starts could experience rapid growth amid already tinder-dry conditions 

[Nick L]

We'll be turning our thoughts from drought to flooding next week I think. Even a modest thunderstorm in the south is going to cause problems, the rain will have nowhere to go the ground is so baked hard.