This has been a very wet autumn here in Edinburgh and regardless of what happens during this month, this autumn looks certain to be wetter than average and probably substantially so (although this autumn is only actually going to go down as our first wetter than average season of this year).

The only question remaining is whether or not, this month itself will be wetter than average and that will be determine whether or not we end up with all three autumn months being wetter than average.

In fact, it is already raining here, even as I write. Up until 9am GMT (09:00 UTC) this morning, that will still be part of October's rainfall, so more details of what falls up until then will be published on October's thread along with the final rainfall figures for that month.

However, this rain is forecast to continue until possibly up until lunchtime and so, it is not likely to be long before I have something to report here for this month.

The reason why I go by that 9z to 9z observation day is because that is traditionally how that is done at the Met Office, but I am aware that not everyone will go by that. Indeed, some people who don't go by that way of defining their official observation day may therefore, already have something to report for this month and so, I have started this thread just now so that you can now do so.

Data For Recent Days

24 Hour Total up to 9am GMT (09:00 UTC) this morning: 10.2 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank, along with 7.8 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Total since 9am GMT (09:00 UTC) this morning: 3.8 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 6.8 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh (as at 1:00pm GMT (13:00 UTC) this afternoon on Wednesday 1 November 2023).

Monthly Data

Total for this month so far: 3.8 mm (5.2% of 1991-2020 November average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 6.8 mm (10.4% of 1991-2020 November average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of rain days during this month so far: 1 (7.8% of 1991-2020 November average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 1 (8.5% of 1991-2020 November average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of dry days during this month so far: 0 at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 0 at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Seasonal Data

Total for this autumn so far: 207.6 mm (98.2% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 209.4 mm (106.9% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of rain days during this autumn so far: 28 (76.9% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 28 (83.9% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of dry days during this autumn so far: 26 at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 28 at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

This means that only at least another 3.8 mm of rain now needs to fall at Edinburgh Gogarbank between now and the end of this month in order for this autumn to go down as being wetter than average there in terms of the actual amounts.

However, more rain has now fallen at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh during this autumn than the 1991-2020 autumn average and so regardless of what happens between now and the end of this month, this autumn will go down as being wetter than average in terms of the actual rainfall amounts.

Annual Data

Total for this year so far: 578.2 mm (73.7% of annual average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 607.6 mm (83.5% of annual average) at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of rain days during this year so far: 103 (74.9% of annual average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 106 (82.7% of annual average) at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of dry days during this year so far: 157 at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 148 at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Note

This data has been obtained from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) by using a beta version of their latest upcoming API system.

Data For Recent Days

24 Hour Total up to 9am GMT (09:00 UTC) this morning: 4.6 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank, along with 7.8 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Total since 9am GMT (09:00 UTC) this morning: 5.4 mm at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 8.6 mm at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh (as at 3:00pm GMT (15:00 UTC) this afternoon on Thursday 2 November 2023).

Since I first started to compose this report, it has started raining here yet again, so there are likely to be further additions to those totals before the end of the current official observation day.

Monthly Data

Total for this month so far: 10.0 mm (13.6% of 1991-2020 November average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 16.4 mm (25.1% of 1991-2020 November average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of rain days during this month so far: 2 (15.6% of 1991-2020 November average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 2 (17.1% of 1991-2020 November average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of dry days during this month so far: 0 at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 0 at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Seasonal Data

Total for this autumn so far: 213.8 mm (101.1% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 219.0 mm (111.8% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of rain days during this autumn so far: 29 (79.7% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 29 (86.9% of 1991-2020 autumn average) at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of dry days during this autumn so far: 26 at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 29 at the Botanic Gardens in Edinburgh.

This means that more rain has now fallen at Edinburgh Gogarbank during this autumn than the 1991-2020 autumn average and so regardless of what happens between now and the end of this month, this autumn will go down as being wetter than average there in terms of the actual rainfall amounts.

In addition to that, only at least another 5 rain days now need to be recorded at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh between now and the end of this month in order for this autumn to go down as being wetter than average there in terms of the number of rain days.

Annual Data

Total for this year so far: 584.4 mm (74.5% of annual average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 617.2 mm (84.8% of annual average) at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of rain days during this year so far: 104 (75.7% of annual average) at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 107 (83.4% of annual average) at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Number of dry days during this year so far: 157 at Edinburgh Gogarbank along with 148 at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh.

Note

This data has been obtained from the Scottish Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) by using a beta version of their latest upcoming API system.

Level of groundwater (m above sea level); 44.0, 46.3, 54.3, 58.4, 59.8, 61.0, 64.5. { 20.1m rise in a week) EDIT now 66.6 midday Sat

There's a day or two's delay while the water works its way down. It's noticeable from the chart below that during a wet spell in summer (e.g. at the start of July) while the ground is not saturated and plants are in full growth, there is no discernible effect on the water table. In the preceding two weeks to the above rainfall totalled about 170mm which did a preliminary saturation of the ground, enough to raise the water table by a mere 10m. But now there's no holding it!

The most critical figure is a water table at 75m, i.e. surface level  at Chilgrove, when water just comes out of the ground everywhere, roads through the Downs are deep in water; and villages, if not actually cut off, quite often only have one road for access. There should be no difficulty in reaching this level in 7-10days' time given the forecast, despite a brief dry spell early next week.

https://sites.google.com/view/groundwatergraphs/home/groundwater-data/sussex/chilgrove-west-dean-to-east-dean-chilgrove 

(A more detailed graph with choice of dates to display is at the bottom but takes  a minute or two to load)

68.2mm for the month so far.

Add this to the 165mm that fell in last 18 days of October brings the total to a staggering 233mm in little over 3 weeks. 

A very soggy spell of weather, hope that doesn't set the precedence for this coming Winter but signs are things will become less wet from here on. 

Update: Just reached the 50 mm mark and still climbing.

Update again: 60 mm! And still pouring down.

Another update: 70!! With just 5 minutes until my next station reset.The road below me where the night club is is getting flooded out.

Monthly total now stands at 85.4mm.

A slight reprieve this week. Modelling suggests 10-20mm this week; compared to the projected and as it turned out accurate projections of 120mm+ last week.

Amazing how much rain you've had, not that many miles away!

Here, the other side of the squeegee-like North Downs, there's been 29.8mm this month. The ground is muddy, but there's not the oozing-up of water when you tread on the grass that I've seen in previous years.

(There are, however, no fewer than three types of mushroom growing in my garden at the moment!)