The wet and windy, with occasional snow, 2022/2023 thread

The wet and windy, with occasional snow, 2022/2023 thread

Author
Discussion

Blib

41,139 posts

184 months

Friday 17th March
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The narrative must be adhered to at all times. hehe

PositronicRay

25,406 posts

170 months

Friday 17th March
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Ashfordian said:
Celtic Dragon said:
And if the news recently wasn’t gloomy enough, it seems more is output every day.

We all know February was dryer than normal, but to drought risk level?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-649...
It's stories like this that makes me question the motives of those pushing these sorts of headlines.

We all know February was dry, however this followed a wet January. And the first half of March has been very wet, with more rain in the forecast almost every day for the rest of the month.
Depends where you are, I know the south and north have had some rain, but very dry here in the Midlands.
Nov & Dec the ground was dry, crumbly even dusty in places. Usually saturated.

Puggit

Original Poster:

47,441 posts

235 months

Friday 17th March
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No bones about it - SW Water is in an extremely precarious position:



https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/environment/water...

eharding

13,017 posts

271 months

Friday 17th March
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Puggit said:
No bones about it - SW Water is in an extremely precarious position:



https://www.southwestwater.co.uk/environment/water...
Interestingly, the big problem seems to be with Colliford and Roadford - Wiimbleball is full to the top....

popeyewhite

17,218 posts

107 months

Friday 17th March
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Evoluzione said:
Gene Kelly seemed to like it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=swloMVFALXw
I'd sing in the rain as well if they paid me as much as they paid him. smile




MentalSarcasm

6,067 posts

198 months

Friday 17th March
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Not an expert by any means, but from what I understand it's a combination of problems:

1. The very dry and hot summer last year (especially the heatwave) meant that we went into winter already in a precarious position re: water. Even an average amount of rainfall wouldn't have managed to make up for it.

2. Water for drinking, gardening etc comes from reservoirs (of which we should really be building more) and from underground sources (aquifers?). We have far too much tarmac and too many non-porous surfaces around the place, so when it rains the water can't soak down into the ground and make its way into these storage areas.

3. Because of the above, when it does rain most of the water gets washed straight into the drains. Hence you end up with water companies discharging sewer water into rivers and the sea during periods of fairly average rainfall.

4. Again, the heatwave last year baked the ground to such an extent that when it did rain, a lot of water just sat on top of the surface and then evaporated, rather than sink into the earth.

5. Ultimately although it feels like we've had "too much" or "enough" rain, in reality we need significantly more to make up for the impact of the previous summer, let alone past years of below average rainfall in various areas of the country. Human perception of what is enough rain is vastly out of sync with what is actually needed.

Again, I'm not an expert in the slightest, this is just what I've seen mentioned online over the past few months. This is also why you'll see more about installing things like waterbutts in gardens instead of using the standard hose and tap to water plants etc in the coming months/years.

Anyway, it's raining here in north Essex and has been doing so for most of the day. If I had a waterbutt I'd be very happy hehe

swanny71

2,655 posts

196 months

Friday 17th March
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eharding said:
Interestingly, the big problem seems to be with Colliford and Roadford - Wiimbleball is full to the top....
Plenty of rain here this winter (2 miles from Roadford)

colin_p

3,965 posts

199 months

Friday 17th March
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Meanwhile, near Chesterfield...

Spring feels like it is springing, which is nice.

There is snow still up in the hills, just the remnants of the drifts, but it is still there.

The Equinox is just a few days away with the clocks going forward, soon after.

There has got to be a 20c either forecast or recorded soon.

Puggit

Original Poster:

47,441 posts

235 months

Friday 17th March
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colin_p said:
There has got to be a 20c either forecast or recorded soon.

JakeT

4,916 posts

107 months

Friday 17th March
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I agree, Colin. Even in the Costa del Thames Valley. The tree I see outside my office window is getting ready, and I noticed more flying insects today when on a walk. 14°, so can’t be far off. Hopefully the gritters are put away so the old cars can come out, too!

Bannock

1,919 posts

17 months

Friday 17th March
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Just found a woozy bee in my house (Reading/Oxfordshire border). Turfed him out of the window and off he flew. Temp around 15 this arvo, feels like the Med.

Ashfordian

1,482 posts

76 months

Friday 17th March
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MentalSarcasm said:
5. Ultimately although it feels like we've had "too much" or "enough" rain, in reality we need significantly more to make up for the impact of the previous summer, let alone past years of below average rainfall in various areas of the country. Human perception of what is enough rain is vastly out of sync with what is actually needed.
Agree with your other points, but on this, I am basing it on what I am seeing and have seen over many years.

We had a lovely dry and warm summer and I hope we get a repeat this year. Then the Autumn and winter rains were late, and the lakes I see were not filled to capacity until after the wet period in January. At this point the ground was saturated, which is what is needed to start to replenish the ground water. Then we had a dry February, and now have had a wet March with more to come with rain forecast for most of the rest of the month.

The current wet period is going to go a long way to replenishing our reserves, it is just happening later than usual. What we don't need is the hysterical report saying that we at drought risk because of the driest February for 30 years, when mother nature has a pretty good record at restoring the equilibrium.

For those asking about location, like I reported about near flood levels in the Fens of Cambridgeshire on Sunday 12th March, I am near enough to East Anglia which had this in the BBC report - In East Anglia, just 2.4mm rain fell on Andrew Blenkiron's farm compared to the usual amount of around 50mm for February.

Puggit

Original Poster:

47,441 posts

235 months

Friday 17th March
quotequote all
Bannock said:
Just found a woozy bee in my house (Reading/Oxfordshire border). Turfed him out of the window and off he flew. Temp around 15 this arvo, feels like the Med.
Emmer Green - posh....

RicksAlfas

12,797 posts

231 months

Saturday 18th March
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According to the fantastically named Watsit report, Yorkshire reservoirs in February were at 93% compared to 98% same time last year. I suspect after March they will be closer to full.

https://www.yorkshirewater.com/about-us/open-data/...

That gives three months for Yorkshire Water to have numerous leaks and unexpected discharges to then declare us in “an emergency” for the summer. rolleyes

Evoluzione

10,276 posts

230 months

Saturday 18th March
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MentalSarcasm said:
Snip
You've missed out linking wet areas with the dry ones via pipelines. All the reservoirs near me have been overflowing since Jan.

Also, we need more reservoirs and not be dependent on aquifers. We're currently drawing too much from them and it's ruining certain parts of the environment.

Edited by Evoluzione on Saturday 18th March 12:48

popeyewhite

17,218 posts

107 months

Saturday 18th March
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
According to the fantastically named Watsit report, Yorkshire reservoirs in February were at 93% compared to 98% same time last year. I suspect after March they will be closer to full.

https://www.yorkshirewater.com/about-us/open-data/...

That gives three months for Yorkshire Water to have numerous leaks and unexpected discharges to then declare us in “an emergency” for the summer. rolleyes
I remember a few years ago the government demanding water companies take action against the astonishing amount of water lost to leaking pipes. Rather than mend the pipes my local 'company', North West Water, aggressively reduced the flow. But not my bill. How does that work?

colin_p

3,965 posts

199 months

Saturday 18th March
quotequote all
Evoluzione said:
You've missed out linking wet areas with the dry ones via pipelines. All the reservoirs near me have been overflowing since Jan.

Also, we need more reservoirs and not be dependent on aquifers. We're currently drawing too much from them and it's ruining certain parts of the environment.
Thames Water, I don't know about other companies, have a programme of works sinking boreholes which allow aquifers to be re-charged by actively pumping water back into them when there is a surplus. Very clever stuff.

Evoluzione

10,276 posts

230 months

Saturday 18th March
quotequote all
RicksAlfas said:
According to the fantastically named Watsit report, Yorkshire reservoirs in February were at 93% compared to 98% same time last year. I suspect after March they will be closer to full.

https://www.yorkshirewater.com/about-us/open-data/...

That gives three months for Yorkshire Water to have numerous leaks and unexpected discharges to then declare us in “an emergency” for the summer. rolleyes
That's a useful link and provides word of the day - Megalitre!

colin_p said:
Evoluzione said:
You've missed out linking wet areas with the dry ones via pipelines. All the reservoirs near me have been overflowing since Jan.

Also, we need more reservoirs and not be dependent on aquifers. We're currently drawing too much from them and it's ruining certain parts of the environment.
Thames Water, I don't know about other companies, have a programme of works sinking boreholes which allow aquifers to be re-charged by actively pumping water back into them when there is a surplus. Very clever stuff.
I think it was Paul Whitehouses program about river pollution and it was explained that the aquifers overflow as waterways. Now they've been tapped into and bled off the streams and rivers have dried up and everything that lived there died.

mcelliott

8,149 posts

168 months

Saturday 18th March
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Most spring like here in the Channel Islands, could feel myself starting to burn whilst sat in the garden, even the sea felt most agreeable too.

fttm

3,194 posts

122 months

Sunday 19th March
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Flew out of Calgary last night at 10.30 and it was plus 2C , hour and a half later in SK(home) was minus 22C irked. Next week we're into plus daily temps so might be climbing back up the cliff , still some more winter crap to tolerate but we can see the end .