Saturday, 21 July 2018
Not a Record Dry Month
We visited the "Thirsk Birds of Prey Centre" on Friday and would you believe we left the centre early because it was raining.
We left in the middle of the afternoon as the rain fell steadily and it rained for most of the journey back home only drying up for the last few miles of our journey. It did manage to rain a little bit at home but only by the smallest margin my weather station records 0.2mm (0.01in) but it was enough to prevent this July from becoming the driest month I've recorded. Up until yesterday it was tying with April 2011 with 2.4mm or 0.09in.
Temperature & Rainfall Records July 2018
The cloud cover was heavy enough overnight to deposit another 0.2mm (0.01in) rocketing our month total up to 2.8mm or 0.11in. If you look closely enough at the chart above you can just make out that it "rained" on the 13th and 16th of the month but not the amount of the last couple of days. An average month's rainfall would be represented by a full height column of blue.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 19 - 21 July 2018
By changing the rainfall scale it's possible to see that the rain fell at around 16:00 on Friday afternoon and 03:00 on Saturday morning.
I don't think it's going to have helped out with watering the allotment. Watering cans at the ready again today.
Thursday, 26 July 2018
Summer Weather Continues
The lovely hot summer weather has continued this week although it was much cloudier on Monday and Tuesday. At the plot on Tuesday afternoon the cloud was thick enough to produce the lightest of drizzly rain.
The rain certainly wasn't enough to disturb my weather station rainfall gauge which remains firmly stuck on 2.8mm or 0.11in for this month's rainfall. That's the negative side of the hot summer as the almost complete lack of rainfall has meant lots of time spent watering the allotment.
The forecast for the next couple of days is for some extremely hot weather before we get a much cooler spell over the weekend and into the early part of next week. Along with the forecast of hot weather comes the risk of thunderstorms and consequently lots of rain. The hot sunny weather of the next few days might be the hottest weather we've had since I set up my weather station a little over eight years ago. The highest temperature I've recorded was 33.1°C (91.6°F) on 01 July 2015.
The tendency this year is for us to miss the thunderstorms and any rain. Will it be rain or heat this time?
Saturday, 28 July 2018
No Records Broken
I thought I'd wait until Friday evening came around before updating my weather records from what was not only forecast to be the hottest day ever in the UK but also it was anticipated there would be lots of thunderstorms and torrential rain around. We were particularly looking forward to some rain so that we could have a few days off watering at the allotment.
However, it got to late Friday evening and despite a thunderstorm early on Thursday evening and lots of thunder rumbling around until mid morning on Friday we avoided any torrential downpours. We did have a very short heavy shower on Thursday night during a bout of thunder which deposited 1.8mm or 0.07in of rain bringing our monthly total up to 4.6mm or 0.18in. It looked like we'd be back on watering duty at the allotment over the weekend.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 25-27 July 2018
Thursday turned out to be the hotter of the two days with the temperature making it up to 32.2°C or 90.0°F moving it into second place in my top twenty hottest days table.
As it turned out Thursday was a rather cloudy day for the most part and I can well imagine that had we had clear blue skies it might well have been a record breaking temperature.
On the plot I was giving a little bit of thought to where our over wintering onions might be planted. There aren't any obvious options at the minute.
Had it been a normal year with the usual amount of rainfall the bed in the photo above would have already been prepared for a crop of winter onions. I like to get them planted as soon as possible so they become established before any colder weather sets in. I don't fancy my chances of getting any digging done until we've had some substantial rainfall and the ground begins to resemble soil again. There's another bed that looks like this that should be planted up with some spring cabbage and spinach, together with wallflowers and sweet Williams.
Saturday morning has started off with some rain. Not a lot, 5.0mm or 0.2in but it's doubled our rainfall total for the month which now stands at 9.6mm or 0.38in. However, it's our wettest day since 25 May 2018 when we had 8.0mm or 0.31in of rainfall.
Sunday, 29 July 2018
Automatic Plot Watering System Takes Over
The lovely summer weather had to come to an end eventually and Saturday was the day. A bit of rain in the morning and a thunderstorm in the afternoon brought our dry spell to an end. The day's rainfall amounted to 8.4mm (0.33in), more than in the whole of June, and the wettest day since 24 April when we had 9.6mm or 0.38in.
We were harvesting on the plot when the thunderstorm started. The morning's rain meant a day off watering so we decided on a few other jobs for the day. These came to an abrupt end as the rain began to pour down forcing us to take shelter in the shed. The earlier rain had softened the soil slightly and I dug up a few more drought hit Casablanca potatoes. I was pleasantly surprised by the crop which was much better than the first set off around six roots.
Casablanca
It's given me hope that some of our other potatoes that still have green tops might have some sort of a crop beneath them. When the rain eased off a little bit I made a dash for the plot greenhouse to pick our first ripe tomatoes of the season. It's unusual for our plot greenhouse to provide the first ripe fruits of the year as the plants in our home greenhouse are the first ones planted up in growbags.
Sungold
Sunday morning started off with more rain. Not the thunderstorm heavy type of rain, this is more steady rain which will be doing a good job of watering the allotment and garden much better than we can ever achieve with watering cans.
Temperature & Rainfall Records for 29 July 2018
It rained for most of the morning before stopping around lunchtime. Another 8.4mm (0.33in) bringing our monthly total up to an almost respectable 21.4mm (0.84in) and wetter than either May or June.