Early on Tuesday evening, we had what seems like our first rain in ages. The drizzly rain continued into the early hours of Wednesday morning. It wasn’t a great amount moving our monthly total up from 0.8 to 4.4mm or 0.17in.
However, it was enough to ensure that April 2011 holds on to the record of the driest month with just 2.4mm (0.09in) of rainfall. The next lowest amount occurred in March 2011 with 7.2mm or 0.28in of rainfall.
I wonder how we got on at the allotment that year.
April 2011 turned out to be a record breaking month. It will go into the record books as the warmest April on Record since 1659. Many days in the month were like summer days as the temperatures climbed into the low twenties with clear blue skies and almost no breeze.
March was very dry and April even drier again breaking into the record books as we had just 2.4mm of rain. That gives us only 9.6mm in total for the last 2 months when we would normally expect 100mm of rainfall. The result is that the plot is very dry and young plants and seedlings need constant watering for them to survive.
The forecast is for more rain before the month is out, and the weather models are suggesting a cool and changeable May.
