I can't imagine a hosepipe ban here - the last one was over 20 years ago.

 

We're lucky where our water comes from - the reservoirs in the hills are usually well full from all the rain they get throughout the year.

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We're lucky where our water comes from - the reservoirs in the hills are usually well full from all the rain they get throughout the year.

Yup. Even when it's bone dry here the reservoirs up in the hills are usually fine.

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The current levels in Yorkshire region are at 75%, but as has been noted on the news surrounding some regions looking at hosepipe bans it is not the level of water supplies in reservoirs etc. that is the issue, it is the ability to meet the increased demand for water during this dry spell - as fast as they are pumping it, the water is being used at a faster rate, hence the drop in pressure in some areas. The bans are not therefore a result of concern for water reserves in the system, rather that ability of the system to meet the rate of demand.

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Very close to an absolute drought here now. The last day with any measureable rain was 20 June, and even that was only 0.5mm. The models don't offer anything, with the next 10 days looking completely dry as well.

Looking further back, my station recorded 15 completely rainless days between 26 May and 9 June inclusive, with only 10.9mm falling across the next 11 days. This is turning into one very significant dry spell.

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A lottery for the S and SE to come tomorrow; highest resolution models are unanimous in developing some heavy and quite slow-moving but also very small and well-scattered showers.

A few could see 5-10 mm while the rest see little or, in the majority of cases, nothing at all.

 

Assuming, that is, the models are right to do this - today's rain in the SW was less intense, more persistent and more 'spread out' than those models had been predicting.

A repeat of that sort of error tomorrow would go against the consensus of forecasting agencies though as that's for a lot of sunshine for the vast majority. That differs to today, for which there was some mention of cloudier weather in the south.

 

Will my 34-day run of less than 1 mm rainfall (in fact, 0.6 mm or less as things stand) come to an end tomorrow, or will it continue for what could well be at least another 8 days? 

I'm actually a bit tense about this, and can't make up my mind which I'd rather see happen.

I do know what I don't want though; for it to be broken by a total at or slightly above 1.0 mm, which would be of little use for watering anyway and feel like the weather taking the piddle! 

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I'm sick of having to use tap water on my plants. There's only so much you can let outgass the nasties!

We did an experiment one year and used rain water for one pot and tap water for the other ( same food for both) and tap water pot was a quarter of the size of rainwater...... I suppose that's what happens when you bathe your plants in bleach?

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We’re at grasscon 3.5 now. The vegetation has really turned in the last 2-3 days. Soil moisture levels are now lower than we’ve seen in most recent years, early August 2013 being the last time things were this yellow.

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I'm sick of having to use tap water on my plants. There's only so much you can let outgass the nasties!

We did an experiment one year and used rain water for one pot and tap water for the other ( same food for both) and tap water pot was a quarter of the size of rainwater...... I suppose that's what happens when you bathe your plants in bleach?

What plants, and how hard is your water? It could be more to do with the pH (hard water being alkaline, rainwater being acidic) - some plants hate too much lime.

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A narrow escape today as some locally heavy deluges rumbled close by (I'm pleased ). The ground was briefly dampened but it was insufficient to tip the bucket. 0.0mm was the total. Tomorrow marks Day 29 of absolute drought here in Folkestone.

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Reservoir levels in this neck of the woods are pretty healthy - actually quite a lot fuller than average after a wet winter.

https://www.southernwater.co.uk/reservoir-levels

Hydrological drought is all about winter rainfall. Agricultural drought (the French call it simply “secheresse des sols) is about spring and summer rainfall plus evapotranspiration.

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Been watching Haweswater drop over the last couple of months and now Mardale is coming into view with the old stone walls appearing and soon should see an appearance of the old bridge. I’ll be cycling there this weekend to see the progress. Never known it so dry in Cumbria!

https://www.riverlevels.uk/haweswater-reservoir-bampton#.Wz6RGYrTWf0 

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The locally infamous Puddleslosh Lane has finally lost the last of its extraordinarily resilient puddles, and the larger of the trees lining it have started dropping their leaves in abundance. A strange thing to see at this time of year, especially with the leaves turned a near-autumnal (but more deathly-looking) brown as they dried out in the sun.

Streamflow has been holding up well but the past few days have started to show a bit of a drop with extra stones and shingle becoming exposed compared to the usual midsummer situation.

Walking through all this and being faced from time to time with flurries of dust kicked up by either the breeze or passing vehicles, it no longer feels quite like the English country I’ve come to be familiar with.

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Here in Edinburgh, there has still been no recorded rainfall at either Edinburgh Gogarbank or the botanic gardens in Edinburgh during this month so far as at midnight, going into Friday 6 July 2018.

The last recorded rainfall at Edinburgh Gogarbank was on 20 June 2018. The last recorded rainfall at the botanic gardens in Edinburgh was on 21 June 2018 with that amounting to just 0.2 mm of rain. This means that we have now gone more than 15 days in a row with no more than 0.2 mm of rain being recorded on any of those days. That in turn means that we have now entered an official absolute drought at both of those stations.

For here in Edinburgh, this is now our second official absolute drought of the year which follows on from the one which ended on 1 June 2018. Meanwhile, the model output continues to show absolutely no signs of any rain in this part of the world during the foreseeable future which means that this could end up being quite a long drought ahead.

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The soil moisture drought has really ramped up in the last week, particularly in the North and West.

http://edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu/edov2/php/index.php?id=1111 

Click on soil moisture on the left, then anomaly.

Eastern France starting to dry up too, but this was before the deluge of the last 2 days.

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What plants, and how hard is your water? It could be more to do with the pH (hard water being alkaline, rainwater being acidic) - some plants hate too much lime.

 

I've never had a problem with my tap water, everything grows very well

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My feeling is the first half of summer 2018 is going to surpass the first half of summer 1976 for England and Wales in terms of dryness

June 2018 is already drier than June 1976 and latest Hadley figures says about 1mm up to 4th of July which even when combined with June 2018's figure is still less than what was recorded during June 1976.

1976 rain total trackometer starting from July with June's total

1. 18.7

2. 18.7

3. 19.7

4. 20.2

5. 20.3

6. 20.3

7. 20.3

8. 20.5

9. 21.5

10. 21.5

11. 21.6

12. 25.4

13. 28.3

14. 28.8

15. 39.6

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The soil moisture drought has really ramped up in the last week, particularly in the North and West.

http://edo.jrc.ec.europa.eu/edov2/php/index.php?id=1111

Click on soil moisture on the left, then anomaly

Eastern France starting to dry up too, but this was before the deluge of the last 2 days.

Those data tie in very well with my local observations. The grass here is very brown in many places compared with what we would normally see. Even after having water the plants and grass several times things are still very dry.

It’s interesting to see the differing effects on vegetation - while some seems to be thriving in the dry warmth others (like the grass) is really suffering.

There were a few unsettled days here in mid June (14th-21st) but apart from that it had been dry since mid-May. 

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The good thing about grass is it always bounces back after a bit of rain. Down here it goes brown almost every year and is none the worse for it. This year it’s really looking 1976-esque, though (the year before I was born, but I’ve seen the photos!)

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I think a few hill side fires might break out in Southern England tomorrow

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The good thing about grass is it always bounces back after a bit of rain. Down here it goes brown almost every year and is none the worse for it. This year it’s really looking 1976-esque, though (the year before I was born, but I’ve seen the photos!)

Latest blog from the Centre for Ecology and Hydrology.

Due to the wet spring in the south, aquifer and reservoir levels are currently in good shape. River levels are starting to get a bit low in some western and northern areas.

https://www.ceh.ac.uk/news-and-media/blogs/uk-hydrological-status-update-early-july-2018