Drought Watch

[Methuselah]

6 minutes ago, ANYWEATHER said:

Totally agree. The water infrastructure has been neglected for many decades.  What about a national grid of water sending the water from the generally extremely wet northwest of Britain to the drier south east uk, or is that too simple for water companies,  although that infrastructure should have been built donkeys years ago. ...!

But it wasn't, isn't, and probably never will be. 

[Weather26]

On 14/03/2023 at 17:24, Summer Sun said:

Hosepipe ban brewing amid 'acute risk of water shortages', warn climate, farming and infrastructure chiefs

 

Hosepipe ban brewing amid 'acute risk of water shortages', warn climate, farming and infrastructure chiefs

NEWS.SKY.COM

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With recent dry weather due to persist until at least May, two different government advisory bodies have warned water shortages may be in the pipeline. Carrot and lettuce harvests are at risk, say farmers...

 

All said just as it was throwing down in December, the first half of January, plus this month including all the snow melt!

[Cheshire Freeze]

29 minutes ago, Weather26 said:

All said just as it was throwing down in December, the first half of January, plus this month including all the snow melt!

Trouble is that it's too little compared to average...on the back of other drier than average years.

We're also now coming to the time of year where evaporation will outstrip what falls. I'll repeat it again, if the seasonal models are correct then we could be in big trouble come summer. 

Going forward from summer, I think we will probably have an extended wet spell with El Nino predicted. Autumn will probably be wet and stormy.

Edited March 15, 2023 by CreweCold

[matty40s]

This is the February stats for the canal network. 

The main problems are the Peak Forest/Macclesfield due to the Toddbrooke dam failure, and several other reservoirs(Caldon, Welford, Naseby, Boddington) drained to check and make fixes as a result of the Toddbrooke findings. The Chesterfield canal will be all but unnavigable this year as the single reservoir has been drained.

[Elloughtonsnow]

Just to add to the gloom,the weatherman on BBC news just before ten tonight said some places have already had there average rainfall for march

[matty40s]

Well this is me so far this year, the blue blip was me removing a large twig.

[Nick L]

More lazy reporting from the BBC when it comes to weather and climate. That image clearly isn't from February...

[markyo]

55 minutes ago, Nick L said:

More lazy reporting from the BBC when it comes to weather and climate. That image clearly isn't from February...

Its showing what the risk of is Nick, not what is there now.

[Nick L]

5 minutes ago, markyo said:

Its showing what the risk of is Nick, not what is there now.

I know exactly what it's showing, but the caption underneath is strongly implying that it's an image from February. Those who don't follow weather or climate closely will easily believe that it's from Feb. It's plainly misleading.

To put an image of a low river from the summer and caption it with "rivers were low in February" is not okay.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Nick L

[Bristawl Si]

This area got through last Summer with no water restrictions, so fully expecting this Summer to be the same.

From our area's water co.

Overall, the rain received in the last six months (August to January) has been 118% of the long-term average.

Reservoirs:

Our surface reservoirs are now at 100% of total capacity.

Groundwater:

Groundwater levels across the region are at or above average for the time of year.

Edited March 16, 2023 by Bristle Si

[markyo]

2 hours ago, Nick L said:

I know exactly what it's showing, but the caption underneath is strongly implying that it's an image from February. Those who don't follow weather or climate closely will easily believe that it's from Feb. It's plainly misleading.

To put an image of a low river from the summer and caption it with "rivers were low in February" is not okay.

I can get your gripe nick, seems a daft way of showing "abnormally low", could have been clearer. On another note, last time i crossed the woodhead Pass was yesterday and the Crowden chain is far from full, very strange for this time of year, the Yacht Club is still marooned due to lack of water, never seen that at this point in the year.

[Summer Sun]

A hosepipe ban in the south-west has been extended to cover 390,000 more properties in places including Plymouth, Barnstaple, Tavistock and Torquay.

 

Any households caught using a hosepipe will face a fine of £1,000

[Summer Sun]

The extended hosepipe bans come as south west water data shows that Colliford reservoir covering Cornwall was 60% full in March, 19% lower than March 2022 whilst Roadford reservoir was 66% full in March 30% lower than March 2022

Edited April 25, 2023 by Summer Sun

[Bristawl Si]

It seems bizarre that South West Water only have c60% water capacity at some of their reservoirs.

The Bristol area is served by Bristol and Wessex Water and at end March our reservoirs are c96% full, according to their website.

Has Cornwall really had less rain than 'us' over last 6 months are so?

 

[Nick L]

17 minutes ago, Bristle Si said:

It seems bizarre that South West Water only have c60% water capacity at some of their reservoirs.

The Bristol area is served by Bristol and Wessex Water and at end March our reservoirs are c96% full, according to their website.

Has Cornwall really had less rain than 'us' over last 6 months are so?

 

One suggestion by a colleague is that it's to do with where the reservoirs are situated. The SW Water ones tend to be on higher ground so don't have much run-off and are fed largely by rainfall, perhaps the full ones have a larger catchment area and aren't relying purely on rainfall at the location?

[Summer Sun]

The hosepipe ban in the south west is to remain in place until December 1st without drought-breaking rainfall after lower than average levels of rainfall

[Bristawl Si]

58 minutes ago, Nick L said:

One suggestion by a colleague is that it's to do with where the reservoirs are situated. The SW Water ones tend to be on higher ground so don't have much run-off and are fed largely by rainfall, perhaps the full ones have a larger catchment area and aren't relying purely on rainfall at the location?

Yes, just had a look and two of them are on the highest ground in the counties; one is on top of Bodmin moor.

'We' (locally) also have sourced water from the Sharpness canal and the River Severn, so effectively, 'we' receive run-off from the Brecons - mid-Wales usually has plenty of rain.

[Northernlights]

We are seeing water supply issues even up here but it's mainly due to massive housebuilding projects and the infrastructure not expanding at the same rate  In other words what was the population 20 years ago and what is it today

[kold weather]

10 hours ago, Bristle Si said:

It seems bizarre that South West Water only have c60% water capacity at some of their reservoirs.

The Bristol area is served by Bristol and Wessex Water and at end March our reservoirs are c96% full, according to their website.

Has Cornwall really had less rain than 'us' over last 6 months are so?

 

Looking at the data, it seems the only really wet month they had down there was March, October which was broadly wet only got 70% of average down there (The region near Bristol seemed to be in the 125% region), and most of the other months other than Feb ended up around 80-100% of average. Not hugely dry perhaps, but coming from a very large deficit from last summer may also partly explain things, along with the other factors mentioned.

[ANYWEATHER]

Bottom line. The ageing infrastructure we have now with the overpopulated islands is going to be getting worse in the years ahead. A perfect storm of problems lack of infrastructure will be a serious problem for the generations ahead.

[dryfie]

Warning of summer water shortages after dry winter

WWW.BBC.CO.UK

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Parts of Scotland have reached early warning level for water scarcity, says an environmental watchdog.

First water scarcity report of the year issued for parts of Scotland.  The fine, warm weather of April was wrongly reported as being confined to the far NW.  In actual fact it affected much of the west, especially D&G, though temperatures here lacked the foehn boost given by the mountains.  The past month in particular has seen very little rain, and it was the same in the past 24 hours with the forecast falls eventually amounting to virtually nothing.  Sunshine has been plentiful, and temperatures have stubbornly remained in the high teens, making it a very pleasant month or so.  Consequently river levels are now very low, already approaching the lows experienced last summer.  Sprinkler currently doing the job, though who can say for how long?  Tunnel tomatoes and peppers ripening nicely, though sometimes with belt and braces fleece helping out.

[dryfie]

Water scarcity situation update for Scotland.  Many places in the south approaching official drought conditions.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/93b0d63a-fb1a-11ed-bc7a-1444acf8fa38?shareToken=815b0d0beb8c83c9759c0b9b9c20f7aa

[al78]

The south to north gradient in water deficit (which is small now even in Scotland) is evident on this Uk Centre for Ecology and Hydrology pdf produced at the beginning of May:

https://hydoutuk.net/sites/default/files/2023-05/2023_05_HO_RF_current_conditions.pdf

It is the far north and west of Scotland which currently have the low river levels and moderate to high dryness.

58 minutes ago, dryfie said:

Water scarcity situation update for Scotland.  Many places in the south approaching official drought conditions.

https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/93b0d63a-fb1a-11ed-bc7a-1444acf8fa38?shareToken=815b0d0beb8c83c9759c0b9b9c20f7aa

That is a great photo of Ben Slioch.

[damianslaw]

Suspect drought conditions have set in rapidly much of Scotland and many west places now in official drought status.

Lake levels here have dropped rapidly, over 3 weeks since last appreciable rainfall.

[kold weather]

11 hours ago, damianslaw said:

Suspect drought conditions have set in rapidly much of Scotland and many west places now in official drought status.

Lake levels here have dropped rapidly, over 3 weeks since last appreciable rainfall.

Quite a few places now into meterological drought now, I'd imagine northern parts may well be at drought risk if the pattern continues, especially as the weather has been far drier up there this spring compared to further south.

Been dry down here as well but luckily the last 12 months are in decent surplus here despite last summers dryness, so we should ride this summer out even if we have no rain again for a 40 day period like last summer Jan-Feb period this year. With that being said the top layers of soil have really dried out well and water levels in the nearby waters have certainly dropped, despite the lack of heat. Basically 0 chance it gets as low as last year mind you down here.

Edited June 2, 2023 by kold weather