Rain, rain, go away.

The rain gauge was empty this morning.  This is the first time since December 16 2013 - 27 days. In that time we have had 254mm (10 inches) of rain.  This is an unusually long period of rainy days in this part of the world and 254mm is a great deal to fall in a month.  Over the whole of 2013 we had 735mm of rain and rain fell on 93 days.  That was fairly typical for this part of the world.  There was a 14 day spell of rain producing just 80mm in total, but generally rain rarely fell on periods of more than four days.  The amount of rain that fell in the27 day period was equivalent to a third of the rain that would fall in a typical year.  There were also periods of high winds and stormy weather during the month.  We have had mild temperatures in the range 8-12 degrees C, with often little difference between day and nighttime temperatures.

We have suffered no damage and little inconvenience as a result, unlike others whose homes have been flooded and their power cut off.  The floods in the Adur Valley were spectacular, but harmless. The meadows store the water and prevent catastrophic floods further downstream.

Global climate change models forecast weather patterns of this type for this part of the world.  It would be wrong to claim that this or any other period of weather is evidence of global warming.  That would be cherry-picking the data, the climate change deniers favourite trick.  After all, the rest of the year was pretty normal, but it might be an indication of what the climate has in store for us.

Floods in the Adur Valley.