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Posted
  • Location: Thorley, west Isle of Wight
  • Weather Preferences: Spanish plumes & stormy winters. Facebook @ Lance's Lightning Shots
  • Location: Thorley, west Isle of Wight

Let it rain all August I say. I don't care if people moan about it, some things are more important. Looking at the models though, little chance of any rain where it's needed going into next month. 

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Posted
  • Location: Devon
  • Weather Preferences: Storms, Wind, Sunny, Warm, Thunderstorms, Snow
  • Location: Devon

Just seen the weather for the week ahead, still looks very dry for southern parts, no rain I can see. The forecaster kept on reiterated that the south east has been very dry, it’s almost like the southwest gets forgotten about, here in Exeter all we’ve had this month is 2 episodes of some very light drizzle for not even half an hour, grass in public areas is turning yellow and that’s after every month since the end of last year being below average rainfall bar maybe one which was close to average. I don’t mind it being dry in summer 🙂 but it would have been nice to have had some thunderstorms which we haven’t.

Will be interesting to see the met office anomaly maps out next week…

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Posted
  • Location: Devon
  • Weather Preferences: Storms, Wind, Sunny, Warm, Thunderstorms, Snow
  • Location: Devon
21 hours ago, Mapantz said:

I wouldn't call it a drought here. A lack of rain compared to previous years, but certainly nothing catastrophic.

historic_rain_month.thumb.png.59339d38599fba2a1e0dbec4694da71a.png

You’ve had thunderstorms and torrential rain roll through your area a few weeks ago, and also a month or so ago, that’s probably helped your totals, anything remotely heavy around this way has either been to our west in Cornwall, north Devon and to the east.

Exeter and the surrounding areas are parched.

The water butt in the garden has been pretty much empty for near on a month 

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Posted
  • Location: Dorset
  • Weather Preferences: warehamwx.co.uk
  • Location: Dorset
3 minutes ago, TwisterGirl81 said:

You’ve had thunderstorms and torrential rain roll through your area a few weeks ago, and also a month or so ago, that’s probably helped your totals, anything remotely heavy around this way has either been to our west in Cornwall, north Devon and to the east.

Exeter and the surrounding areas are parched.

The water butt in the garden has been pretty much empty for near on a month 

The thunderstorms didn't bring any long lasting torrential rain here. Here's my daily totals for the last 3 months.

historic_rain_daily.thumb.png.8a2a83c66bfb06ae021e1355640c072e.png

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Posted
  • Location: Basingstoke
  • Weather Preferences: In summer, a decent thunderstorm, and hot weather. In winter, snow or gale
  • Location: Basingstoke

I saw on the news this evening that our local station (Odiham) is on 0mm for the month.  So is Hurn airport near Bournemouth.  Nothing expected either until months end.  

The grass does look every bit as brown as in 2018 now

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Posted
  • Location: Welwyn Garden City
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal and interesting weather including summer storms and winter snow
  • Location: Welwyn Garden City
5 hours ago, danm said:
%2Fmethode%2Ftimes%2Fprod%2Fweb%2Fbin%2F
WWW.THETIMES.CO.UK

Most of the country has moved into a state of ‘prolonged dry weather’

 

Not a good situation and although the National Drought group stopped short of declaring a formal drought i cant imagine it will be that long before one is declared if no meaningfull rain falls in the areas that need it. This period between January and June is stated to be the driest since 1976 by the met office..and it reminds me of 1976 with the brown grass cover as well as 2018.

Obviously there are the serious issues of farm crops not growing/dying , shortages of staple foods as a result, loss of farm farmer/ grower earnings, potential water restrictions and high fire risk of tinder dry land and risk to property/life. 

However what i have noticed more and more in my work as a gardener is the damage to our popular plants such as Hydrangeas and Clematis that this weather and particularly that extreme heat caused. Although some may consider this not that important given other more serious consequences referred to above, in my opinion this still matters. ....

I visited a client today who has a big Lacecap  Hydrangea  plant and previously it looked really lovely, full of buds and very healthy.

Today this is how it looked..

20220726_124222.thumb.jpg.8313923d2986e9772ff1cdad4aed0262.jpg

Leaves all shrivelled/burnt, flowers that were just about to come out dead. The exceptional heat of last week...that viciously hot and dry air the plant just could not cope with on the back of shortage of rain over the previous months. This plant was my elderly clients pride and joy as she only has a small garden and has been very ill recently. She was understanderbly very upset. 

It is also noticeable that even when plants are watered daily they dry out so quickly.

I know we have had many droughts before however the severity of this is brought home to me every day i am out there in the gardens and the consequent effect that has on my (often) elderly clients 

I would be very interested to hear other gardeners/ horticulturists/ growers experiences and how this dry weather is effecting them...

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
4 minutes ago, minus10 said:

Not a good situation and although the National Drought group stopped short of declaring a formal drought i cant imagine it will be that long before one is declared if no meaningfull rain falls in the areas that need it. This period between January and June is stated to be the driest since 1976 by the met office..and it reminds me of 1976 with the brown grass cover as well as 2018.

Obviously there are the serious issues of farm crops not growing/dying , shortages of staple foods as a result, loss of farm farmer/ grower earnings, potential water restrictions and high fire risk of tinder dry land and risk to property/life. 

However what i have noticed more and more in my work as a gardener is the damage to our popular plants such as Hydrangeas and Clematis that this weather and particularly that extreme heat caused. Although some may consider this not that important given other more serious consequences referred to above, in my opinion this still matters. ....

I visited a client today who has a big Lacecap  Hydrangea  plant and previously it looked really lovely, full of buds and very healthy.

Today this is how it looked..

20220726_124222.thumb.jpg.8313923d2986e9772ff1cdad4aed0262.jpg

Leaves all shrivelled/burnt, flowers that were just about to come out dead. The exceptional heat of last week...that viciously hot and dry air the plant just could not cope with on the back of shortage of rain over the previous months. This plant was my elderly clients pride and joy as she only has a small garden and has been very ill recently. She was understanderbly very upset. 

It is also noticeable that even when plants are watered daily they dry out so quickly.

I know we have had many droughts before however the severity of this is brought home to me every day i am out there in the gardens and the consequent effect that has on my (often) elderly clients 

I would be very interested to hear other gardeners/ horticulturists/ growers experiences and how this dry weather is effecting them...

Does that all mean we could be about to have another Drought Minister? Oh, God, whoever it is surely can't be any more useless than the 1976 iteration was -- Denis Howell, was it? Well, whoever it was, his decision to allow only private golf courses to have sprinklers working all day long was a disaster! What about the farmers, Denis?😱

Though as, back then, I tended to read whatever 'screwspaper' my olds bought home (Excrete, Sun, Mail, Andrex) I may have been completely hoodwinked!🤣

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Posted
  • Location: Stoke Gifford, nr Bristol, SGlos
  • Location: Stoke Gifford, nr Bristol, SGlos
3 minutes ago, Ed Stone said:

Does that all mean we could be about to have another Drought Minister? Oh, God, whoever it is surely can't be any more useless than the 1976 iteration was -- Denis Howell, was it? Well, whoever it was, his decision to allow only private golf courses to have sprinklers working all day long was a disaster! What about the farmers, Denis?😱

Though as, back then, I tended to read whatever 'screwspaper' my olds bought home (Excrete, Sun, Mail, Andrex) I may have been completely hoodwinked!🤣

And 2 days after he was appointed it started raining🤣

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
Just now, Bristle Si said:

And 2 days after he was appointed it started raining🤣

Third week in July that must have been, then, just when I had my two-weeks' leave. My other break was on the August Bank Holiday!😄

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Posted
  • Location: Benson, Oxfordshire
  • Location: Benson, Oxfordshire
36 minutes ago, minus10 said:

Not a good situation and although the National Drought group stopped short of declaring a formal drought i cant imagine it will be that long before one is declared if no meaningfull rain falls in the areas that need it. This period between January and June is stated to be the driest since 1976 by the met office..and it reminds me of 1976 with the brown grass cover as well as 2018.

Obviously there are the serious issues of farm crops not growing/dying , shortages of staple foods as a result, loss of farm farmer/ grower earnings, potential water restrictions and high fire risk of tinder dry land and risk to property/life. 

However what i have noticed more and more in my work as a gardener is the damage to our popular plants such as Hydrangeas and Clematis that this weather and particularly that extreme heat caused. Although some may consider this not that important given other more serious consequences referred to above, in my opinion this still matters. ....

I visited a client today who has a big Lacecap  Hydrangea  plant and previously it looked really lovely, full of buds and very healthy.

Today this is how it looked..

20220726_124222.thumb.jpg.8313923d2986e9772ff1cdad4aed0262.jpg

Leaves all shrivelled/burnt, flowers that were just about to come out dead. The exceptional heat of last week...that viciously hot and dry air the plant just could not cope with on the back of shortage of rain over the previous months. This plant was my elderly clients pride and joy as she only has a small garden and has been very ill recently. She was understanderbly very upset. 

It is also noticeable that even when plants are watered daily they dry out so quickly.

I know we have had many droughts before however the severity of this is brought home to me every day i am out there in the gardens and the consequent effect that has on my (often) elderly clients 

I would be very interested to hear other gardeners/ horticulturists/ growers experiences and how this dry weather is effecting them...

I had loads of pots of dianthus 10 days ago and despite regular watering they're actually scorched. I know regular deadheading is necessary through the summer months to encourage new flowers, but I can't see any new buds, which is unusual. I moved my acers behind a north facing wall in the shade and they've suffered too, not that that's unusual. Think I got the hydrangeas in time. They looked pretty sad last week, but have rallied and the new flowers look ok

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Posted
  • Location: Welwyn Garden City
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal and interesting weather including summer storms and winter snow
  • Location: Welwyn Garden City
5 minutes ago, Frosty hollows said:

I had loads of pots of dianthus 10 days ago and despite regular watering they're actually scorched. I know regular deadheading is necessary through the summer months to encourage new flowers, but I can't see any new buds, which is unusual. I moved my acers behind a north facing wall in the shade and they've suffered too, not that that's unusual. Think I got the hydrangeas in time. They looked pretty sad last week, but have rallied and the new flowers look ok

Yes i think those exceptional hot dry winds we had last Monday/Tuesday did a lot of damage to the more softer tender plants. The effect was like a blowtorch even if plants were somewhat sheltered as the wind was gusty with back draughts. Leaves were singed and water loss signigicant with evapotranspiration. Be patient with your Dianthus, plants can recover. Keep them watered and give a weekly diluted liquid seaweed plant food as it contains potash which should encourage glowering. ..😀

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Posted
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
  • Weather Preferences: Thunder, snow, heat, sunshine...
  • Location: Beccles, Suffolk.
1 minute ago, minus10 said:

Yes i think those exceptional hot dry winds we had last Monday/Tuesday did a lot of damage to the more softer tender plants. The effect was like a blowtorch even if plants were somewhat sheltered as the wind was gusty with back draughts. Leaves were singed and water loss signigicant with evapotranspiration. Be patient with your Dianthus, plants can recover. Keep them watered and give a weekly diluted liquid seaweed plant food as it contains potash which should encourage glowering. ..😀

When trundling along to Tesco, yesterday, I noticed an alder (och weel, I think it was an alder) whose leaves were almost totally yellow and about to fall off, and I haven't seen that since 2018.

We have, I think, a potentially worrying situation developing?🤔

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Posted
  • Location: Benson, Oxfordshire
  • Location: Benson, Oxfordshire
14 minutes ago, minus10 said:

Yes i think those exceptional hot dry winds we had last Monday/Tuesday did a lot of damage to the more softer tender plants. The effect was like a blowtorch even if plants were somewhat sheltered as the wind was gusty with back draughts. Leaves were singed and water loss signigicant with evapotranspiration. Be patient with your Dianthus, plants can recover. Keep them watered and give a weekly diluted liquid seaweed plant food as it contains potash which should encourage glowering. ..😀

Thank you! 

Yes, usually you can see new buds when you dead head the old growth,but these particular ones were on a south facing wall so have been very shocked!

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Posted
  • Location: Hampshire Snow Hoper
  • Location: Hampshire Snow Hoper

As a gardener it's a worry.If a hosepipe ban gets declared in mid Hants some bigger gardens of mine will be difficult.Not helping is that some customers are not watering on the days I'm not there.The reasons they give are laughable.Hanging baskets unwatched in real heat and drying winds are especially vulnerable.It will rain of course but when is the question.

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Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)

 

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Posted
  • Location: Longden, Shropshire
  • Location: Longden, Shropshire
2 hours ago, SummerShower said:

I saw on the news this evening that our local station (Odiham) is on 0mm for the month.  So is Hurn airport near Bournemouth.  Nothing expected either until months end.  

The grass does look every bit as brown as in 2018 now

Yep, my front south facing grass is completely brown!

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Posted
  • Location: Swindon
  • Location: Swindon
5 hours ago, Weather26 said:

And we had a surprise shower early this morning too.

Now watch them declare a drought and then it pours down at some point during August (just as what happened in 1976 the moment they appointed a minster for drought.) 

For many areas, the extended dry period won't end until the soil is saturated, and the groundwater is well on its way to being recharged in the winter. It could be at least December or even beyond, before we can be sure that the problems won't persist into next year. That is unless we have a very wet autumn with significant recharge. So even if it poured down in August, the dry period won't end at that point, as there will still be unsaturated soils and probably no groundwater recharge, as that starts up later in the autumn in a typical year. Plants will take a lot of the rain up and it will be lost.  Given the dryness of the soil, there is a higher chance of a delay in saturation, especially for those areas that don't get that much rain generally. 

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Posted
  • Location: Folkestone, Kent 101ft/30m ASL
  • Location: Folkestone, Kent 101ft/30m ASL

Only 3.79mm of rain here this month, compared with what was quite a wet July last year (78mm thanks to a boost one very wet day). The grass in the garden and all around town has gone brown in the last week, with the trees on the green (or should I saw brown) behind the house shedding leaves as a result of heat stress.

If we don’t end up with a hosepipe ban locally I’d be surprised.

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Posted
  • Location: Welwyn Garden City
  • Weather Preferences: Seasonal and interesting weather including summer storms and winter snow
  • Location: Welwyn Garden City
1 hour ago, jy said:

As a gardener it's a worry.If a hosepipe ban gets declared in mid Hants some bigger gardens of mine will be difficult.Not helping is that some customers are not watering on the days I'm not there.The reasons they give are laughable.Hanging baskets unwatched in real heat and drying winds are especially vulnerable.It will rain of course but when is the question.

Yes i have had cases where clients say they have watered but you can always tell that they havent . Also i have had to advise clients against using sprinklers...very inefficient and wastefull way of watering...in favour of targetted watering at plant base level instead...

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Posted
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl
  • Location: Windermere 120m asl

I heard Isle of Man introducing a hosepipe ban.. that's it expect the deluge to arrive and the taps never to be turned off for ages...

I recall the last hosepipe ban here back in May 11 I think and we were plunged into a lengthy very wet period.. Summer 18 was followed by generally very wet weather.. I've commented so often on how very dry periods recently have been followed by very wet ones.. last two exceptional drought periods were Spring 95 to Spring 97 thereafter we had a long wet period all the way to Dec 00.. Spring 05 to Aug 06 next one.. that was followed by a long wet period through to Jan 10, very dry to April 11, lengthy very wet period thereafter... 

Edited by damianslaw
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Posted
  • Location: Chevening Kent
  • Location: Chevening Kent
18 hours ago, richie3846 said:

Wow that is a fascinating insight, I had no idea about all that. It's scandalous really, because from what you say, Thames Water aren't doing enough to protect the ecology of the river when it comes to a dry year like this one. Is this the same for Farmoor, with the reservoir needing to be full to work well? It rarely runs low, but this year the flows at Farmoor are practically grinding to a halt, so I can't imagine Thames Water can abstract any more water without a drought order. 

Although I have been to Farmoor, and it is a Thames Water reservoir, the part of the Thames Valley controlled by Thames water in the Oxfordshire region is not connected to the London region so I don't have much personal experience of running that system. What I can say is that Farmoor is of similar construction to those near Heathrow and is filled from Thames abstraction again in a similar fashion. I can't speak for the hydraulics of the system itself.

My experience comes initially from a tiny water company called Sutton & District Water which was all boreholes/wells and is now part of Surrey Water. The majority of my experience comes from being a senior controller for London's water supply for 15yrs. I have seen most things 😀 

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Posted
  • Location: East Lothian
  • Weather Preferences: Not too hot, excitement of snow, a hoolie
  • Location: East Lothian

FRom Nick 

drought-spain.jpeg
WWW.NETWEATHER.TV

Following a dry spring, dry first half to summer and extreme heat last week - water levels are becoming critically low across central, southern and eastern areas, With little rain on the horizon in these areas...

and the GOV drought response framework for England https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/625006/LIT_10104.pdf 

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Posted
  • Location: Liphook
  • Location: Liphook

Whats really becoming more worrying is we've got several LP systems that are set to move through in the nearby area and despite that there really isn't much rain forecasted on the fronts at all. A possible 5-10mm isn't really going to make up for the dryness seen in the last few months in particular. 

This next week is vital because if we can't get a decent frontal rainfall (I mean a 20-30mm jobbie over a 3-4 day period, at least) then we appear highly likely to move back into a very dry pattern and we would probably be looking for thundery rain from the south after a hot snap to break the pattern down.

The only upshot is time is starting to swing back in our favour, as the days start to quite rapidly reduce in length through August which reduces the time temperatures are at/near their peak vs June/July. 

Still a warm and dry August probably will put the SE at least clearly into official drought territory.

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Posted
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)
  • Weather Preferences: Winter: cold and snowy. Summer: hot and sunny
  • Location: Home: Chingford, London (NE). Work: London (C)

 

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Posted
  • Location: Burton-on-Trent (90m), Larnaka most Augusts
  • Location: Burton-on-Trent (90m), Larnaka most Augusts

Aside from the odd couple of days it's a terrible way to have a drought too. Endless cloud, but no rain, useful to nobody. Southeast corner has had more sun, but for the rest of the country it's been mostly miserable since the record day.

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