Kitchen Garden Forum

At the end of last year's appalling summer I made this "confident presdiction": Next year is bound to be better. How wrong can I be

Last year there were 20 days with rain between 1 July and 11 August; this year there have been 21 - and rain forecast every day for the foreseeable future.

Only applies to here and not very scientific, I know - but it makes you think.

Dear Alan, we haven't caught as much rain here as you have there, but so saying that, tomorrow morning is meant to be pretty grim.

Next year is bound to be better.

Nice to see the rain saves 2 hours watering every night,ha, ha,

I have found that the forecasters have been rather pesimistic and that reality has been a bit better than the projection.
I was out and about over the weekend - Friday was OK, Saturday pretty damp in Cambridge then Sunday dawned hot and sunny (still in Cambs) and whilst breezy (damned windy to be honest) was pretty good until late in the day. Today it never quite got around to raining, several times I felt spots of rain but it never matured into a shower, which was good news as I had hung the washing outside!

Been warmer rain this year I think.

Well Alan, here are the figures from my weather station here in Llannon - Aug to date (11th).

July Aug
2007 58.1F 58.8F
8.97ins 6.63ins
24days 19days

2008 59.9F 60.3F (rapidly dropping!)
4.82ins 5.02ins
14days 10 (out of 11!)

July this year was better, which probably explains the later onset of blight. But like Geoff I have to say that I have found the forecasters unduly pessimistic, not to say even more inaccurate than usual. They get the timing wrong too often to make any sort of gardening plans, sometimes even for the day ahead.

It doesn't feel like there's been anything like as much rain as last year; perhaps because we've not had floods everywhere.

I have found the forecasts to be wildly at variance with reality over the past few weeks. BBC have forecast doom and gloom and it's often been fine and dry.
Metcheck have forecast sun, cloud, occasional bit of drizzle and it's been solid cloud and coming down in torrents. I'm thinking of borrowing OH's bit of seaweed.

As OC says, it's saved a lot of time in the evening with no need to water.

Definitely more rain here this year than last. I thought it couldn't be worse than last summer, but it is.

tipped down again during the night, we dont seem to get two dry days together.

After the last 24 hours I'm revising my opinions. Anyone got a spare canoe?

We've had a fair amount of rain lately, but never enough to really soak in. I'm still having to water the tubs and baskets most days. Very windy here today as well.

Not wet enough today, the half wits that call themselves country sports enthusiasts were still able to play with their pop guns on the moors around us. Easy way to settle the Hen Harrier debate - ban the shotgun - nobody needs to own a weapon.

It was pouring down early(ish) this morning, then cleared up, so I got out. Decidedly muddy underfoot but sunny and warm, then a short shower.
Sun looks nice now but regretably I have other things to do (including a bit of surfing )

Just for comparison, our local observations just outside Skipton in the Yorkshire Dales:

July 1987 mx.temp. 29 degrees, min.temp. 6 dgerees, rainfall 96.5mm
July 1997 mx.temp. 27 dgerees, min.temp. 8 degrees, rainfall 87mm
July 2007 mx.temp. 21 degrees, min.temp. 7 degrees, rainfall 189mm
July 2008 mx.temp. 24 degrees, min.temp. 7 degrees, rainfall 149mm

August 1987 (to 12th) rainfall 18.5mm
August 1997 (to 12th) rainfall 1.25mm
August 2007 (to 12th) rainfall 17mm
August 2008 (to 12th) rainfall 92mm

Enough said!

Today was extraordinary, weatherwise. I went to a cricket match (the PCA vs South Africa) at the Wormsley Estate close to Stokenchurch. Windy all day, rain through most of the morning (torrential first thing), then a bit of sunshine in the early afternoon, just enough dry weather to complete a 20-20 match, then in rained again!