Where is the rain?

[Temp023]

Does anybody know what weather phenomenon is keeping things so dry?
There is no rain forecast, the farmers must be frantic!

Interested too. It’s bizarre, especially for whet I live!

Climate change is the big answer

Yes, but there must be a more local explanation, is it the Gulf Stream or something? If we knew what it was then we could guess how long it’s likely to last.

Yes I've started watering the garden already. Seems very early to be doing so and my waterbutt is already down to half full. They forecast rain a week today briefly for here (SW) but I see it's gone again. I do feel for the poor farmers!

I am not that good at remembering the high/low pressure and where fronts are coming from...

If you watch the countryfile weather forecast (you can get it on iplayer, it is towards the end of the programme) they do a good week ahead forecast and often explain the why.

I did watch it but forgot everything instantly

We’re forecast rain for next week(west Yorkshire), it is strange though to have such a dry April.

We have lots of mature trees, they have really suffered in the last few years!

It’s climate change

Leave your car at home
Stop eating meat
Turn the heating down
Don’t go on planes
Stop buying fast fashion
...But you know this already

There is currently a large area of high pressure centred to the north of the UK. High pressure systems tend to be dry and slow moving with light winds which are currently from the north/north east. Combine that with clear skies and that's why it's dry and relatively cold. It's blocking our normal (low) pressure systems which come over the Atlantic and bring rain.

It is everything to do with meteorology and nothing to do with climate change.

It is everything to do with meteorology and nothing to do with climate change

meteorology and climate change are linked

I was thinking this, our water butts are empty already 😢 the garden is desperate for water.

Rain forcast for most of next week for me.

I think it was the same last year. At the beginning of lockdown when schools were closed and people were allowed out for exercise the weather was great.

We had snow last week this week sunshine 8

I was thinking this, what has happened to April Showers?

High pressure keeping our current weather system in place. But it's not unusual, we've been having dry springs for quite a few years now. Last year, Covid lockdown started the last week of March and was followed by a long spell of glorious weather. And for about the last 5 years the caving forum has been filled each spring with comments like "Has anyone been down X recently - the sump should be low enough to allow passage by non-divers". We've all grown up with "April showers bring forth May flowers" but for several years now, spring has been the driest time of the year.

Over the last years, total rainfall in mm in April has been (Jun figures in brackets for comparison):

2015: 45.5 (56.3)
2016: 77.3 (95.9)
2017: 33.4 (110.4)
2018: 83.9 (34.7)
2019: 48.5 (108.9)
2020: 29.1 (105.7)

2018 was an exception - the dry season was May and Jun that year - but the recent trend has been for dry Aprils

source: www.statista.com/statistics/584914/monthly-rainfall-in-uk/

I'm forecast a 50% chance of light drizzle next Tuesday. Meanwhile the primroses in my shady garden are wilting.

Rain forecast for Tuesday. I'll take drizzle. Waterbuts both nearly empty.

We haven’t had any rain since before Easter (south east). The dc drew with chalks on the patio and it’s all still there. I think I’m going to have to water the garden!

SE here and and haven't had any rain since before Easter (although did have a morning of snow flurries) snow and the highest chance in the next fortnight is 17% one day! We have massive cracks in our lawn already and I started watering 3 days ago. I am a very reluctant waterer.

I usually find that the summer is wetter than the spring. I think it rained every day during August last year. We often have wet Augusts.

Don't panic everyone, there's a bank holiday next weekend, it is bound to be pouring with rain.

@TroysMammy

I think it was the same last year. At the beginning of lockdown when schools were closed and people were allowed out for exercise the weather was great.

Yes, we had no rain from late March to early/mid-May last year. Then it went very wet for most of the summer! (NW coast.)

I've checked the forecast for my part of the SE up to 7 May and not a drop of rain in it. I've watered the flowerbeds twice this week using the outside tap (no water butt, and nowhere to put one).

To make matters worse, it is very windy, so even more drying.

The grass can take its chances, but I'm damned if I'm losing all the plants I've put in after spending most of last summer clearing the beds of ivy, brambles and bindweed. And as for the cost of the water, replacing the plants will be far more expensive!

I can foresee a hosepipe ban before long if this keeps up. Which is a worry, because there's no way I can lug a watering can up and down the garden dozens of times a day.