Tuesday 3 June 2014

The Year’s Record Intensity

After such a good start to June we only had to wait one day to find out that it wasn't going to last. Monday was a mild muggy day with the threat of rain never very far away. 
By tea time the cloud looked fairly menacing and at first it was a scattering of heavy raindrops which turned into a deluge for a couple of minutes. The rainfall intensity of 111.8mm/hr was the highest of the year and would produce about a month’s rainfall in 15 minutes.
Down on the plot, another 10.1mm of rainfall isn't going to help the soil dry out ready to cultivate. Besides keeping a check on the precipitation the software supplied with my weather station calculates the amount of evaporation that takes place each day based on temperature, sunshine and wind speed. I've tabulated these values below since the end of that brilliant spell of weather in the middle of May.
As you see we've had 51.6mm of rainfall over evaporation which is why the ground is a bit on the wet side for digging. At home the plants in the greenhouse aren’t getting through enough water to prevent my water butt from overflowing and causing a rather large puddle outside the greenhouse doorway.
At least I'm not having to water the pots outside which seem to be managing very well without any additional help.

4 comments:

  1. I notice your hosta isn't being eaten by slugs and snails! That is good going as with the rain, comes the slugs.

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    1. Very selective photography Kelli. Most of our other hostas have been nibbled by the things.

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  2. Oh that hosta is wonderful. Mine are sad chewed things. While I'm passing, I don't suppose you have a long range weather forecast for the summer do you Martyn?

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    1. Considering how we've had ideal conditions for slugs and snails our hostas aren't too bad-yet. Long range weather forecasts are a bit thin on the ground. Those headline grabbing articles in the papers are a complete waste of time just intended to sell newspapers. Try this link http://www.theweatheroutlook.com/forecast/uk-seasonal-weather-forecast Best I can do I'm afraid.

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