Surprisingly low total of only 45.2mm (112% of average). Still the wettest start to winter since 2012 but at least then there had been some snow as well. Seems so much worse this year because it's raining practically every day and the ground is completely saturated with virtually zero evaporation due to the ridiculous frequency of damp wind from the SE.
Also combined with the wet end to November makes for one horrific spell. 107.2mm (146%) over the last 30 days with only six days failing to record rain. Simply vile 
Originally Posted by: richardabdn
Our totals here in Edinburgh are even lower than that for this month and it really does look as though this is the only part of the UK where this month is running slightly drier than average so far during this month.
In the end, a total of 3.2 mm of rain fell during yesterday at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 2.4 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.
In addition to that, a further 0.2 mm of rain has fallen during today so far at he botanic gardens in Edinburgh as at 8am this morning, but with Edinburgh Gogarbank remaining completely dry so far as I write.
For Edinburgh Gogarbank, that takes this month's total so far to 30.8 mm, the total for this winter so far to 30.8 mm and the total for this year so far to 609.2 mm as at 8am this morning.
For the botanic gardens in Edinburgh, that takes this month's total so far to 28.2 mm, the total for this winter so far to 28.2 mm and the total for this year so far to 591.6 mm as at 8am this morning.
We are well over halfway through the month now, but we still have had less than a half of the average December average rainfall at both of those stations so far, and the same is even true for the number of official rain days at Edinburgh Gogarbank. In addition to that, we have already had more completely dry days than what we had during the whole of November so that when you add all of that up, we can't really refer to this as a wet month in any way in this part of the world.
However, I do know that this is not the case in the rest of the UK but there has to be some scientific reason as why our rainfall patterns during this month have been so different from that in the rest of the UK, and why we have just not been getting as much rain as the rest of the UK (which I can see, even also includes Aberdeen) during this month. Hopefully, someone who is more knowledgeable than me on this matters will enlighten me on that one.
Meanwhile, here is the latest water scarcity report from SEPA who have stated that an early warning is still in place for the east of Scotland for possible issues which could yet result if the amounts of rainfall during this winter are not enough for groundwater levels to properly recover from those earlier summer droughts.
The report says that whilst groundwater levels have recovered to a certain extent, this is variable across the country and in some places, groundwater levels in the east of Scotland continue to be at record low levels. Basically, everything hinges on the rainfall patterns during this winter in terms of whether a full recovery of these groundwater levels occur or not, and there are two aspects of that which I am rather concerned about.
First of all, the forecast models are pointing towards a build of high pressure at around Christmas which could then last into the New Year, and that will only result in it becoming drier overall if that happens. Secondly, the upcoming SSW event which has been modelled to happen at Christmas may well eventually take us into a really cold pattern of weather further down the line.
That will no doubt please a lot of cold weather lovers but if it is colder than average at this time of year, it is also likely to be drier than average as well. So, those are two aspects which could well lead to a much drier outlook for the rest of this winter and that could yet lead to worrying times ahead for those flagging groundwater levels here in the east of Scotland.
Edited by user
19 December 2018 09:19:32
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Reason: Not specified
The north of Edinburgh, usually always missing out on snow events which occur not just within the rest of Scotland or the UK, but also within the rest of Edinburgh.