Long dry spells

[summer blizzard]

8 hours ago, cheese said:

Today will be 23 days since it last rained. No rain at all in the forecast, so 30+ days without rain seems likely. 
 

The day it actually does rain will seem really odd. 

It definitely rained two weeks and a day ago for a while. 

[cheese]

14 minutes ago, summer blizzard said:

It definitely rained two weeks and a day ago for a while. 

We had some drizzle a couple of mornings ago but that wasn’t even enough to wet the ground, it seems silly to include that. 

In any case, I’ve not recorded any measurable rainfall here since 11 May. You live in Bradford these days don’t you? 

Edited June 3, 2023 by cheese

[The PIT]

Last recorded measurable rain was on May 19th with a grand total of 0.4mm before that 3.7mm on the 11th. We did have some drizzle and light rain the last two days of May but they weren't measurable but did wet the ground.

Despite the lack of recent rain the dams round here are full still courtesy of a wet spring.

Edited June 3, 2023 by The PIT

[Terminal Moraine]

An 18 day drought here from May 12th-29th but then drizzle from North Sea cloud gave two days each recording 0.2 mm.

With regard to the old Met' Office definition of a dry spell ( 15 consecutive days or more none of which records more than 0.9 mm of rain ) it's 22 days and counting.

A partial drought is  at least 29 consecutive days with an average rainfall over the period of less than 0.2 mm per day. It would have to stay dry until June 9th for that to be achieved and if that happens it would be the first one here since 2020 when a partial drought lasted from March 16th-April 27th ( 43 days ). I've recorded only 11 partial droughts here since 1977 and that in 2020 was the longest on record.

[The PIT]

1 hour ago, Terminal Moraine said:

A partial drought is  at least 29 consecutive days with an average rainfall over the period of less than 0.2 mm per day. It would have to stay dry until June 9th for that to be achieved and if that happens it would be the first one here since 2020 when a partial drought lasted from March 16th-April 27th ( 43 days ). I've recorded only 11 partial droughts here since 1977 and that in 2020 was the longest on record.

Well we are half way there. A dry week coming up so we may make it. Looking at the charts last night showed the high being in control for a very long time.

[reef]

Up to 14 days with no measurable rain here now. Nothing noteworthy yet but the ECM has nothing for the next 10 days and GFS right out to T+384 showing the same.

Only 0.6mm in the last 19 days aswell due to a small fall on the 19th.

[SW Saltire]

4 hours ago, Terminal Moraine said:

An 18 day drought here from May 12th-29th but then drizzle from North Sea cloud gave two days each recording 0.2 mm.

With regard to the old Met' Office definition of a dry spell ( 15 consecutive days or more none of which records more than 0.9 mm of rain ) it's 22 days and counting.

A partial drought is  at least 29 consecutive days with an average rainfall over the period of less than 0.2 mm per day. It would have to stay dry until June 9th for that to be achieved and if that happens it would be the first one here since 2020 when a partial drought lasted from March 16th-April 27th ( 43 days ). I've recorded only 11 partial droughts here since 1977 and that in 2020 was the longest on record.

Very useful definitions. Here we got 1.8mm on the 20th of May so not a dry spell but last rain before that was the 8th. 
We’ll be in a partial drought by Tuesday. 

[hillbilly]

Just to note on a slightly different perspective,the reason why a drought at this time of year[Mid april to mid June] seems worse is that it is the peak growing time for plantlife,crops and trees.They are sucking any moisture out of the ground when in later Summer that is not so much the case.

[damianslaw]

7 hours ago, reef said:

Up to 14 days with no measurable rain here now. Nothing noteworthy yet but the ECM has nothing for the next 10 days and GFS right out to T+384 showing the same.

Only 0.6mm in the last 19 days aswell due to a small fall on the 19th.

Higher uppers and lowering pressure conducive for thundery downpours, the airflow is very stable at present, but increasing signs will become less stable from a weeks time. 

[summer blizzard]

We have now avoided the storms with a more settled period upcoming. So tomorrow will be day 25 without precipitation.

[TwisterGirl81]

8 minutes ago, summer blizzard said:

We have now avoided the storms with a more settled period upcoming. So tomorrow will be day 25 without precipitation.

We are on day 31 (we’ve had 1.4mm total from 3 episodes of brief very fine misty rain)  

no rain forecasted the rest of this week, might see some Monday/Tuesday next week so we’ll make it to day 37/38 with no decent rainfall 

Edited June 12, 2023 by TwisterGirl81

[damianslaw]

I note Church Lawford wettest place yesterday 34mmm, BBC kept showing it had seen no rain since 9 May, from one extreme to another.

Hoping those places yet to see much rain last month fayre much better soon.  Driving the UK next few days will make interesting contrasts, the recent rain bringing fresh green to some, whilst others are turning more and more brown. A patchwork quilt of greens, yellows and browns. The Lake District looks more like mid August than mid June after a long dry heatwave. 

[reef]

On 26/05/2023 at 17:14, reef said:

Funnily enough we have already managed a 19 day spell this year. 28th January - 15th February had no measurable rain.

Other spells with no measurable rain in recent years

23 days - 8th-30th April 2022
29 days - 17th June - 15th July 2018
31 days - 6th April - 6th May 2011
21 days - 6th-26th May 2008
27 days - 21st August - 16th September 2007
23 days - 4th-26th April 2007

Currently on 7 days and counting.

Now on 25 days with no measurable rain so it is the longest spell since 2018. Sunday or Monday now look the most likely to record some, so that'll be 30 or 31 days. If we can make it until Tuesday then it'll be the longest period I've ever recorded here.

[Terminal Moraine]

Yesterday evening's storm gave the first day with  1.0 mm of rain since May 11th and brought to an end a 31 day dry spell ( at least 15 consecutive days with less than 1.0 mm per day ) and a 31day partial drought ( at least 29 consecutive days with a mean daily rainfall of less than 0.2 mm ).

The dry spell was the longest since 2018 which also had a 31 day spell from June 12th-July 12th. The partial drought was the longest since one of 43 days from March 16th-April 27th 2020. 

[damianslaw]

Sunday currently forecast to be first day with notable rain, which would end a long run since 9 May.

[summer blizzard]

22 hours ago, reef said:

Now on 25 days with no measurable rain so it is the longest spell since 2018. Sunday or Monday now look the most likely to record some, so that'll be 30 or 31 days. If we can make it until Tuesday then it'll be the longest period I've ever recorded here.

While the brown grass would support the idea that 2018 had one of the longest low rainfall periods, it actually had a nice habit of thundering or passing a dying front so I don't even think I broke 20 days here.

[damianslaw]

The most severe drought here was Spring 95 to Spring 97, the winters of 95-96 and first half winter 96-97 combined with exceptionally dry Apr- Aug 95 with intense heat reasons why.

Other recent droughts include situation by end of Sept 06, and March 11. In all three cases we switched into very wet spells, Summer 97, October 06 and Summer 11 lasting quite some time. 

Edited June 14, 2023 by damianslaw

[kold weather]

On 14/06/2023 at 10:27, summer blizzard said:

While the brown grass would support the idea that 2018 had one of the longest low rainfall periods, it actually had a nice habit of thundering or passing a dying front so I don't even think I broke 20 days here.

Down here we managed to miss a couple of those events, in one case the cell literally decayed about 10 miles away. We ended up going about 50 days without any rainfall at all. We also had something similar last year as well, that time it ended in a large storm which caused localised flash flooding.

Here the grass went even more dead than it did in 2018, no doubt partly thanks to 2018 having a wet spring like this year was down here. That feature will probably save us from getting into the sorry state we saw last year.

Edited June 15, 2023 by kold weather

[summer blizzard]

We made it 29 days here. Today's rain being much further east than forecast has produced albeit not likely to last even an hour.

[richie3846]

On 03/06/2023 at 21:58, hillbilly said:

Just to note on a slightly different perspective,the reason why a drought at this time of year[Mid april to mid June] seems worse is that it is the peak growing time for plantlife,crops and trees.They are sucking any moisture out of the ground when in later Summer that is not so much the case.

And with all the sunshine recently, full sun days near the solstice can suck out over 5mm of equivalent rain each day, out of the ground.

[kold weather]

Still going strong in the dry spell here, I had thought we would get a decent helping of rain down here but it just hasn't happened. Yesterday managed 0.6mm, today so far about 0.3mm. 

A grand total therefore of 1.5mm since 15th May (the rest coming from a convection cell that just edged past.

Now hoping Tuesday can deliver 10mm or more to help take the sting out of what is becoming a very prolonged dry spell, and starting to match up quite closely to 2018...worryingly the models have trended significantly drier in this area for that day as well...

Edited June 18, 2023 by kold weather

[Summer8906]

On 15/06/2023 at 15:38, kold weather said:

Down here we managed to miss a couple of those events, in one case the cell literally decayed about 10 miles away. We ended up going about 50 days without any rainfall at all. We also had something similar last year as well, that time it ended in a large storm which caused localised flash flooding.

Here the grass went even more dead than it did in 2018, no doubt partly thanks to 2018 having a wet spring like this year was down here. That feature will probably save us from getting into the sorry state we saw last year.

Interesting you got to 50 days, I'd guess that would have been the 50 days ending August 7th, as that's when the fine weather broke for good.

That presumably meant that July 2018 was completely without rain where you were? I do remember there was little here, but one or two thundery episodes (without actual thunder) late in the month and a day of general moderate rain on the 29th during a very brief breakdown; did you miss that one?

 

Edited June 18, 2023 by Summer8906

[damianslaw]

Lengthy very dry spell has come to an end today here.

[reef]

30 days with no measurable rain ended yesterday for us with 13.2mm.

14.8mm fell in total, which is actually more than 2006, 2009 and 2018 had all month. 

[kold weather]

15 hours ago, Summer8906 said:

Interesting you got to 50 days, I'd guess that would have been the 50 days ending August 7th, as that's when the fine weather broke for good.

That presumably meant that July 2018 was completely without rain where you were? I do remember there was little here, but one or two thundery episodes (without actual thunder) late in the month and a day of general moderate rain on the 29th during a very brief breakdown; did you miss that one?

 

Had no rain from the back end of June through to mid August, we kept missing whatever little rain was to be had.

Odiham weather station went from 1st July through to 17th August with no rain recorded (I believe 47 days?) My area went a hair longer as we missed some rainfall at the very end of June. It was exceptional, we lost even bigger bodies of water, and the grass went beyond both 18 and what we have right now.

Edited June 19, 2023 by kold weather