Drought Watch

[richie3846]

1 hour ago, seb said:

Official drought areas (Sky News)

 

I think that image may be incorrect as the Thames area reaches across to the east Cotswolds, including Swindon and Cirencester 

[Methuselah]

1 minute ago, minus10 said:

Is the heat driving you to vodka Ed?

I 'm just sitting in the garden in the shade...flaked out and just had yoghurt with fresh fruit...dont work when temp over 30...actually feels like work just keeping all the plants watered

No, the vodka's driving me to the heat! Anyone else getting sick of the sight of cloudless skies!

[seb]

5 minutes ago, richie3846 said:

I think that image may be incorrect as the Thames area reaches across to the east Cotswolds, including Swindon and Cirencester 

Yeah I don't know what they did. Some posts further down I posted the BBC's map and also a link to the official Environment Agency areas.

[Puddy Galore]

5 minutes ago, minus10 said:

Is the heat driving you to vodka Ed?

I 'm just sitting in the garden in the shade...flaked out and just had yoghurt with fresh fruit...dont work when temp over 30...actually feels like work just keeping all the plants watered

Bloomin hard work isn’t it.  I’m down to rescuing plants now other than watering pots and hanging baskets, the  hydrangeas don’t seem to do well in drought conditions.   If these are the summers of the future then I feel hanging baskets and bedding plants in pots will be a thing of the past for me.   To add insult to injury my neighbours have been away all week amd I’ve been trying to keep their garden going as well  

5 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

No, the vodka's driving me to the heat! Anyone else getting sick of the sight of cloudless skies!

Sick of seeing the evil daystar sun at the moment, wish it would b*gger off now for at least a year

[Methuselah]

3 minutes ago, Snowycat said:

Bloomin hard work isn’t it.  I’m down to rescuing plants now other than watering pots and hanging baskets, the  hydrangeas don’t seem to do well in drought conditions.   If these are the summers of the future then I feel hanging baskets and bedding plants in pots will be a thing of the past for me.   To add insult to injury my neighbours have been away all week amd I’ve been trying to keep their garden going as well  

Sick of seeing the evil daystar sun at the moment, wish it would b*gger off now for at least a year

What -- the Death Star? 

[richie3846]

1 hour ago, Ed Stone said:

My main worry is that should we experience another drier-than-average winter (not impossible) next spring & summer would be potentially catastrophic?

Yep, this would be very bad indeed and the planners have probably not taking into account the unknowns about climate change. This summer shows,along with 2018, that we can expect some Mediterranean summers from here on in, and with a longer growing season, the gap for winter recharge shrinks ever smaller. One of the most prone areas is the Thames, because the base flow is heavily reliant on groundwater, which in turn is heavily reliant on winter recharge. Even in average rain from this point on, the recharge season will be delayed as it will take a good time to replenish the soils. 

 

It is my personal view that I believe areas reliant on groundwater are at very high risk of a catastrophe in the coming decades, as we cannot be sure how winter rainfall vs summer rainfall is changing, and if we were to see a couple drier winters in a row, with summers like these, there would be a full blown emergency.

 

[*Stormforce~beka*]

52 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

No, the vodka's driving me to the heat! Anyone else getting sick of the sight of cloudless skies!

No i'm not!!!!!! Get out this thread you heathen! How dare you!

[Methuselah]

5 minutes ago, *Stormforce~beka* said:

No i'm not!!!!!! Get out this thread you heathen! How dare you!

Oh, come now, Beks -- blue is my favourite colour!

[Robbie Garrett]

On 11/08/2022 at 09:17, Nick L said:

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.

We saw it during COVID, Labour Run councils and TfL roads are so poor, the rain just turns to puddles.  It's never been so bad than the last two years, even when Labour was in power previously it's not that bad.

[cyclonic happiness]

2 hours ago, Ed Stone said:

No, the vodka's driving me to the heat! Anyone else getting sick of the sight of cloudless skies!

Yes, I am!! it was 47'c at work today and I'm half dead again after watering all the glasshouses.  The sky is a really weird blue colour, whereas it's supposed to be grey?   I'm not sure what magic this is but i'll be glad when we fade to grey again

[minus10]

2 hours ago, richie3846 said:

Yep, this would be very bad indeed and the planners have probably not taking into account the unknowns about climate change. This summer shows,along with 2018, that we can expect some Mediterranean summers from here on in, and with a longer growing season, the gap for winter recharge shrinks ever smaller. One of the most prone areas is the Thames, because the base flow is heavily reliant on groundwater, which in turn is heavily reliant on winter recharge. Even in average rain from this point on, the recharge season will be delayed as it will take a good time to replenish the soils. 

 

It is my personal view that I believe areas reliant on groundwater are at very high risk of a catastrophe in the coming decades, as we cannot be sure how winter rainfall vs summer rainfall is changing, and if we were to see a couple drier winters in a row, with summers like these, there would be a full blown emergency.

 

Yes i think this issue is summed up nicely in the Environment Agency's monthly water situation report for July 22 that Seb posted earlier..

Page 19 in particular.

Sorry if you cant see it properly however it basically states that we will need at least 120 % of long term average rainfull between August 22 and March 23 to ensure that groundwater levels are back to normal. That, i think will be hard to achieve unless the weather does a complete about turn pretty soon and stays significantly wet until March 23...i know we have wetter periods however i just feel that for the south and east in particular the climate is becoming drier...so the emphasise will be on conserving what water we have and using it more wisely. In my own area, gardening that will mean less of bedding and herbacious perennials that are sensitive to water scarcity and more med type plants / dry gardens that are not so affected by droughts....

 

 

[sixfootdrifter]

4 hours ago, Ed Stone said:

Either the heat or the vodka is addling my brain. Is the toilet hippo any better than 1976's toilet brick?

And don't forget the ladybird plague: 

I remember the ladybirds as a kid when we went to Cleethorpes in 1976. You were literally walking on a carpet of them on the promenade. Millions upon millions of them.

[danm]

Hyde Park looking like a desert:

 

As is Wanstead Flats in east London:

[ChannelThunder]

I know you can't rely on precip. charts so far out, but it feels oh-so predictable that basically all models are showing zero rain over this island next week. It feels like we're destined to be rainless for another few weeks here.

[danm]

 

[Snowyowl9]

OK its one of the driest years but nowhere near as drought sticken as 1976...

And 10 years ago the UK had its wettest summer in living memory..

Way too people and houses on this tiny island

Edited August 13, 2022 by Snowyowl9

[Weather26]

2 hours ago, Snowyowl9 said:

OK its one of the driest years but nowhere near as drought sticken as 1976...

And 10 years ago the UK had its wettest summer in living memory..

Way too people and houses on this tiny island

And it's nearly 3 years back since we had the wettest Autumn since 2000.

[Snowyowl9]

4 hours ago, Weather26 said:

And it's nearly 3 years back since we had the wettest Autumn since 2000.

So true think it was the wettest on record here, infact we ve had so much record floods that it makes you wonder one year of drought..

February 2020 was another record wet month smashed the previous..

I think we re safe plenty more rain to come when its ready..

[Bobd29]

On 12/08/2022 at 15:05, *Stormforce~beka* said:

No i'm not!!!!!! Get out this thread you heathen! How dare you!

Quite right Beka, it’s funny how short weather memories can be…a week of rain and most will have forgotten how they felt in our rare heatwave. Recent years have seen autumn last from October to April at least, let’s just enjoy a couple of weeks of summer heat with no heating bills.

[h2005__uk__]

Is there any standard definition of what is described as "meaningful" rain in a day? E.g. 1mm?

[minus10]

Really hope this is what will happen on wednesday as if nothing else it would help to reduce the fire risk in the south...

Also before then although have a feeling will miss most of the storms...waiting in anticipation..

[dryfie]

Salmon and trout stocks depleted in drought hit southeast

Drought killing off Tweed wildlife

WWW.THETIMES.CO.UK

---

For centuries people have fished the majestic Tweed for salmon, but after months of drought parts of the famous river are drying up, leaving its abundant wildlife at risk. Atlantic salmon, sea and...

 

[matty40s]

8 minutes ago, dryfie said:

Salmon and trout stocks depleted in drought hit southeast

Drought killing off Tweed wildlife

WWW.THETIMES.CO.UK

---

For centuries people have fished the majestic Tweed for salmon, but after months of drought parts of the famous river are drying up, leaving its abundant wildlife at risk. Atlantic salmon, sea and...

 

The Tweed is not in the South East....

[ChannelThunder]

I'm even more glad I'm visiting Scotland at the end of the month now, just to have a break from having to look at a bleak, dried out landscape, dried up streams, giant cracks in the ground etc. And ground this dry is pretty horrible to walk on too.

It will be interesting to observe the landscape getting greener the further north I drive!

[Bristawl Si]

2 hours ago, matty40s said:

The Tweed is not in the South East....

It is in SE Scotland, Dryfie lives in Lockerbie.