Friday,14 June 2019
Feels Like It Should Be a Record!
Somehow I feel I should be writing a blog post about a wettest or coldest June I've recorded but amazingly that isn't the case. As far as I can tell other parts of the country have had far more rain than we have and we've had plenty.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 7-13 June 2019
So far this month up to midnight on the 13 June we've had 53.8mm of rainfall or around what we'd generally expect through the whole of a typical June.
Not only has it been wet, it's also been on the very chilly side for early to mid June. I'm not referring to night time temperatures here but daytime high temperatures. Tuesday, 10 June managed just 11.2°C as a daytime high. The only other time I've recorded a lower daytime temperature in June was on 03 June 2012 when the daytime temperature reached a high of just 9.6°C. Tuesday makes the record for the coldest day so far into June.
Daytime High Temperatures for Early June 2010 - June 2019
With a month's rain by the middle of the month you'd think I'd be able to post that this June is the wettest since I started keeping records back in 2010. It isn't, and that record also belongs to 2012 when, by this stage of the month, we'd had 54.0mm marginally more than this year. June 2012 went on to have 131.5mm the highest monthly total I've recorded.
Rainfall Accumulative Totals for Early June 2010 - June 2019
I have to admit it does show the value of having your own weather records as I would have been convinced that this was the wettest and coldest June we've had for many years not just going back seven years.
Finally, returning to the cold June of 2012, the average temperature by the 14 June 2012 was 11.7°C compare with 13.2°C this June. This is entirely due to the fact that the first few days of June this year were reasonable mild, unlike June 2012 which began with a cold spell of weather rather than one developing after the first few days of the month.
The forecast suggest there might be some improvement over the next few days with the rain dying out, some warmth returning and if we're really lucky we might even see a little bit of sunshine.
Tuesday,18 June 2019
All Change
It's funny how quickly things change. A couple of months ago we began preparing our new strawberry bed. The first job was to move the weed control fabric from the old bed to the new one.
The top picture is an aerial shot taken in the middle of May and below it a close up of how the ground looked when the weed control fabric was removed. I tried and it was difficult to even get the tines of a fork into the ground let alone dig over the bed. The ground resembled concrete and I decided to leave it well alone until we got a drop of rain to soften up the soil. It was spring so there were plenty of other jobs to be getting on with.
We had some rain in late May but then June arrived and we've hardly had a dry day.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 18-May to 17-June 2019
Since those photos were taken we've had 74.8mm (2.94in) of rainfall with most of that coming in the last week to ten days. That bone dry soil has been transformed.
It's not in a fit state for planting but I thought a week ago when I began digging it over that my big cultivator would break it down nicely and we could maybe even plant a few vegetables in it this year. I finished digging the last little bit on Sunday and my guess is that it's now too wet to break down with the cultivator. I might have to leave it to dry out a little bit. I might just test a patch if we get a half decent afternoon this week. There's no point cultivating it if the soil is too wet or I'll do more harm than good to our clay soil.
It is however, a rather amazing transformation over only a couple of weeks from dry, bone hard, undiggable ground to ground that is now too wet to dig.
Friday,21 June 2019
Another Cold Morning
Over the last few days we've had some decent weather. It's rained at sometime through the day but not in any great quantity. Generally daytime highs have reached around average for mid to late June but we just don't seem to be able to shake off uncomfortable cold mornings.
Temperature & Rainfall Records 14-20 June 2019
I blogged about the low temperature of 5.9°C (42.6°F) on Sunday morning which is the lowest temperature I've recorded in June so far into the month. Well on Friday morning the temperature fell to 7.7°C (45.9°F) which is another 10 year low temperature for June so far into the month. It's certainly having an effect ,on the more tender plants at the allotment, like French climbing and runner beans, squashes and sweet corn which now think it is time that summer proper arrived and nights turned a little bit milder than they are.
Runner Beans - Celebration
The forecast is for us to have a heat wave for a few days next week. It's not forecast to hang around for long before we return to more normal June temperatures. I think our tender plants would appreciate some milder nights rather than a few days of blistering hot temperatures.