Where Is The Driest Place In The Uk

[Airedalejoe]

Running total so far for the year is 104mm, April so far has seen 6.4mm, very dry and just how I like it!

[Coast]

Looks like there might be some rain on Saturday which would might mean we don't make the driest April ever down here, but that is not necessarily a bad thing! 2007 - 1.6mm

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/stationdata/eastbournedata.txt

[TEITS]

Only 3mm so far this month and the last time this fell was on the 3rd April. The total rainfall for this year so far is around 50mm.

Interesting to see on the Met O rainfall maps that Cambs, part of beds see less 600mm annually with parts of Essex also included in this. I believe the reason for this is because this area also misses out on most of the precipitation from N,NW,lys which often falls in the form of showers. So the combination of this plus the weakening fronts from the W means we get very little rainfall.

We seriously need the rainfall now because we also missed most of the snowfall in December which was also a very dry month here.

[Paul Sherman]

Looks like there might be some rain on Saturday which would might mean we don't make the driest April ever down here, but that is not necessarily a bad thing! 2007 - 1.6mm

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/stationdata/eastbournedata.txt

Pah

You had twice the recorded rainfall I had in 2007 - Extreme

[TEITS]

Just found a more reliable source because the figures I quoted were from RAf Wittering which is 20 miles away from Peterborough.

http://www.peterboroughweatherwatch.com/reports/april2011.php

Here are some interesting stats.

Dec 2010 only 6.4mm rainfall

March 2011 only 2mm rainfall!

Total so far this year is actually 71mm because 32.9mm fell in Jan, 33mm in Feb.

So its looking likely that we have only seen 5mm during March, April. That must be a record for my location.

Edited April 26, 2011 by THE EYE IN THE SKY

[SteveB]

_{Total so far this year is 177.2mm, only 10.3mm this month & 28.3mm last month.}

_{Jan was 93.8mm.}

[lottiekent]

Just 1mm here this month and 186mm total to date in 2011.

This link: http://www.seabrookwx.co.uk/ gives the obs just a couple of miles down the road

[Anti Boring Weather]

Only 3mm so far this month and the last time this fell was on the 3rd April. The total rainfall for this year so far is around 50mm.

Interesting to see on the Met O rainfall maps that Cambs, part of beds see less 600mm annually with parts of Essex also included in this. I believe the reason for this is because this area also misses out on most of the precipitation from N,NW,lys which often falls in the form of showers. So the combination of this plus the weakening fronts from the W means we get very little rainfall.

We seriously need the rainfall now because we also missed most of the snowfall in December which was also a very dry month here.

thanks mate for pointing that out someone said that cheshire is drier than my part what a load of tosh that is.

though i did get very very lucky with snowfall in dec prob wont happen again like that though for another 30 years.

[TEITS]

thanks mate for pointing that out someone said that cheshire is drier than my part what a load of tosh that is.

though i did get very very lucky with snowfall in dec prob wont happen again like that though for another 30 years.

The map below clearly shows where the driest places are in the UK and yes whoever said that about Cheshire were wrong.

http://www.metoffice.gov.uk/climate/uk/averages/7100_1km/Rainfall_Average_1971-2000_17.gif

Edited April 26, 2011 by THE EYE IN THE SKY

[Ben_Cambs]

There has been 82mm of rain here so far this year, but 77mm of it came in January and February. Farmers and the agricultural industry particularly in East Anglia need rainfall very soon. Very recently the local news had reported that the Environment Agency may start to restrict water used by abstraction by the agriculture industry. The problem is not helped because a lot of water is needed for irrigation.

Edited April 26, 2011 by Ben_Cambs

[pinball wizard]

There has been 82mm of rain here so far this year, but 77mm of it came in January and February. Farmers and the agricultural industry particularly in East Anglia need rainfall very soon. Very recently the local news had reported that the Environment Agency may start to restrict water used by abstraction by the agriculture industry. The problem is not helped because a lot of water is needed for irrigation.

I can only echo those sentiments, going down the A14 yesterday and seeing the irrigation going on in the fields it looked more August than April. Mildenhall is about 10 miles from where I live and there has been a meagre 5.2mm of rainfall since March 1st! I hope we have a very wet May or else there will be serious concerns for the summer.

[Coast]

Finally got our first rain for 24 days last night. Only 0.2mm so the record for the driest April could still be on for Eastbourne with the current level being only 1.0mm for the month.

[pinball wizard]

Finally got our first rain for 24 days last night. Only 0.2mm so the record for the driest April could still be on for Eastbourne with the current level being only 1.0mm for the month.

Blimey, thats a lot, hope you didn't get flooded

[mountain shadow]

The ground is bone dry over here as well. I'm having to water the lawn and plants for 20 minutes every day to stop them dying.

[pinball wizard]

The ground is bone dry over here as well. I'm having to water the lawn and plants for 20 minutes every day to stop them dying.

That must be very unusual for your location, am hoping we get rain soon, I think i'm on a water meter so am reluctant to get the hosepipe out!

[Coast]

Blimey, thats a lot, hope you didn't get flooded

Surprisingly the ground is still not too cracked or dry, but unless we start getting a bit of rain in the next few days, I can see places where the grass will start to look a bit thin.

[95 Degrees]

Surprisingly the ground is still not too cracked or dry, but unless we start getting a bit of rain in the next few days, I can see places where the grass will start to look a bit thin.

That's happening here, there are cracks in a lot of the soil and the grass is quite thin as it hasn't rained here since April 5th.

[Coast]

Well the 2007 record remains as we had a nice thunderstorm here last night that dumped 5.4mm of well needed rain over Eastbourne.

[Coast]

A further top up overnight and although the official Eastbourne total has not yet been confirmed, my weather station indicates this was not a record breaking dry April in the end, although it missed by a small margin and possibly only one nights worth of rain.

[Terminal Moraine]

April was the driest on record at my current site ( back to 1977 ) with just 10.9 mm, 0.5 mm less than in 1984.

I've yet to check back through the composite record to see if there was a drier one between 1977 and 1963 when I began keeping records.

No rain today would mean 27 consecutive days without rain, 1 more than the 1976 record and the longest absolute drought in this area since 1959.

[Ben_Cambs]

The latest model output shows High Pressure largely dominant with Atlantic LP systems tracking well to the South of the UK. River levels in my area are OK for the time being. This latest CFS anomaly chart doesn't look great for a wet May/June:

http://www.cpc.ncep..../glbz700Mon.gif

Some fairly extensive blocking in the mid-North Atlantic throughout the summer, probably resulting in the UK being mostly dry.

Looks like the dry conditions will continue well into May. If we don't get some decent rainfall in May/June then quite possibly by July some places such as East Anglia might face hosepipe bans for the first time in many years

Edited May 1, 2011 by Ben_Cambs

[Golden Hound]

Here in Ipswich we have had less than 2mm of rain since March 1 and it looks like we will miss the current storm activity that is passing us by a few miles to the west.

[Kentish Kiwi]

First measurable rain here for god knows how long.